What's Beyond the Mask?
by CyEury
Summary: Seto Kaiba finds Jounouchi getting into some trouble with a gang in Domino and gets him out of there before he gets killed, but why? When Jounouchi wakes, not remembering a thing, that's the only question he can muster "Why?". While he's healing in the Kaiba mansion, can Jounouchi find out more about this so-called bastard before someone else tries?
1. Where am I?

**Ello Everyone. Cy here to make your lives better. My friend Kay and I have started this multi-website gig where we talk about different types of shippings and make videos to inform people about said shippings. Our first video was on Puppyshipping and...well...I had so much fun looking up stuff for this shipping that I couldn't help but want to make a little fanfiction about it! This isn't my first fanfiction, though it is the first on this account so I hope you guys like it!**

**This story does have YAOI in it (boy on boy action) so if you don't like it, go away. Haters gonna hate, but I ain't gonna deal with them.**

**I hope you all enjoy the lovely JoeyxSeto in this story and please feel free to review! Oh, and I don't own anything Yu-Gi-Oh related, but if I did, I doubt 4kids could have cleaned it up .**

***new note this chapter has been updated***

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A light blanket of snow covered the once green grass outside, and likely the street beyond it. It was fresh and glistening in the cloudy morning light, prepared to melt or freeze like a perpetual sheet of glass keeping time still. The reflected light shone through the multiple windows of a large house surrounded by the white sea. Most of the windows were covered in blinds or curtains, but there was one left open to the sight. Left there due to its usual unuse, no one thought to close the curtains when an unsuspected visitor showed up in the middle of the night. That said visitor was groaning and turning in his sleep, using the white sheet he gripped to cover his face from the light. It wasn't very helpful, however, and soon the blond haired male woke up with a sigh, quickly followed by a painful groan. His attempt to sit up, as he normally would whenever he awoke, was halted by a sickening feeling in his mid-drift Instead of a crack of his back or an aching in his muscles which he was quite use to, the male felt something vile building up.

"Ugh…where the hell…?" Pushing back his thick hair, the man looked around the sea foam green room and quickly realized he wasn't at home, or at any of his friend's houses either. That wasn't the worse of it, the movement of his hand revealed cuts and bandages all along his arms and chest. At first he didn't move, afraid that if he did he'd only feel pain envelop him and cripple him. Eventually his stubborn nature and curiosity over weighed the pain and he slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting on the side of the large bed. The slow movements let the feeling from before ache and linger in a burning sensation, but it gave him the possibility to move at last. "What the hell happened to me!" he grumbled as he noticed he was shirtless and had bandages around his stomach as well as his arms and fingers. They weren't consistent and some were even covered in a red blush, which worried him. He couldn't remember a thing and just sat there wondering about it until a knock could be heard at the door which echoed around the room and even had him flinching. That resulted in another unwanted groan.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you awake in there?" a small voice asked, almost making him jump again. He glanced around, wondering if he was in a hospital or something, which was obviously wrong, before looking at the white door again.

"Uh, yea," he grumbled. A moment later the door opened and a maid with aquamarine colored hair popped her head in the door to look at him. She blushed, since she had the notion that if he were awake he would also be fully clothed, and quickly looked down.

"I'm s-sorry sir, I don't mean to in-intrude. You're presence has been requested d-downstairs when you're ready to move," she mumbled before quickly closing the door and walking down the long hallway in embarrassment. He wanted to ask her where he was, what was going on, and who the hell was requesting him, but she was gone too fast for him to get a word out. Sighing again, he figured he'd have to find out everything on his own. Or he could call Yug and the others! Yea, that was it, he could just call everyone and figure shit out before he left the room. He looked around, trying to find his shirt and phone and anything else he might have had the night before, but he didn't see anything. In fact, this place seemed almost…too clean. Like it was designed a certain way and nothing ever moved out of place. It was slightly of unnerving.

Eventually he gave up and slowly got himself off the bed and to the door. Whoever was 'requesting' him had to have the answers he was looking for, and hopefully his phone. It was the only thing that made sense. With that as the case he opened the door and looked down the long hallway. "Shit…what is this place, some sortah mansion?" he mumbled as he slowly made his way down the hall until he came to a large, open staircase that lead down to a marble floored room. Guessing this had to be the center of the building, he decided this was as good a staircase as any to go downstairs on. And it almost looked inviting with its honey toned guard rail leading down to polished marble steps covered down the center in a purple rug to match the one in the hall. As he took it slow on the stairs he could hear someone talking in the room on his left and figured that's where he was supposed to go. When he finally made his way down into the marble room his side ached and his breathing was slightly labored. He made his way toward the doorway of the room on his left to see who was requesting him, and where he was. What he found there wasn't exactly what he was expecting, not that he knew what he was expecting in the first place.

"K-Kaiba?!"


	2. He'll be what?

**Howdy guys! I'm back, did you miss me? (Yea I know, I just posted the first chapter like...three hours ago or something, shuddup)**

**I'm back to entertain you guys with more puppyshipping! I hope you guys like it, I know Kay and I are having way too much fun with this whole shipping thing.**

**As always, I own none of the characters here (Accept NPC characters or OCs that are just in the background but whatever). Yu-Gi-Oh is too clean and nice to be mine /3**

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"K-Kaiba?!" the blond gasped as he held the doorframe to what appeared to be a living room in order to keep himself steady since his body wasn't exactly pleased with all the sudden movement. His other hand reached across his midriff, holding the bandages against his wound which was throbbing as his stomach continued to flip since the moment he saw the dreaded male in the room.

"Mr. Jounouchi, please quiet down. Master Kaiba is busy on the phone," a small, old man grumbled at the injured male as he rushed over to the door. He ushered Jounouchi in and brought him over to a couch a few feet away from Kaiba so he wouldn't put as much strain on his wounds. Jounouchi had to take his time in following the butler but the whole while his eyes were focused on the only other male in the room, who exchanged the glance intensely. The medium length, brown hair that framed Kaiba's face also outlined his dark blue eyes, which were following the blond across the room far more intently than the verse up until he sat down, at which point Kaiba turned away and focused on his phone call again. He listened to whoever murmured in his ear about this or that with little to no focus, almost seeming moot to their needs or concerns. This continued for a few minutes until Kaiba's attention seemed to suddenly be drawn to whatever the other person was saying and he leaned forward in his chair, his eyes narrowing at nothing imparticular. It didn't look good for whoever was on the phone. Eventually he seemed to get annoyed with their constant chatter and interrupted them mid-sentence.

"If you don't fix the issue by Monday make sure you leave your tags and access codes behind, as well as all your computer files. And you can relay the message to the others in the group. You, and your crew, won't need to worry about it anymore if I have to fix your problems." Before the, likely surprised, employee could respond Kaiba hung up the call and locked his phone before slipping it into a pocket on the inside of his long white coat. He picked up a tablet from the table and was about to log the names of the people he was prepared to fire on Monday, one way or another, when he was interrupted. Barely a few tense seconds passed before the inured blond yelled across the room at an unneeded volume, which caused a passing maid in the hall to flinch.

"What the hell's going on here, Kaiba?!" The butler, who had hushed him earlier, rushed over and tried to quiet him down again, and scolded him for being so rude to his master, but Kaiba waved him off and the man walked over to the wall to stand and wait for another order, or outburst. His beady eyes were narrowed at Jounouchi and he shook his head now and then, obviously not approving of this 'guest'.

"Keep howling like a mutt and your stitches will pop," Kaiba explained with a sneer as he glanced over at the now slightly blushing male. Jounouchi's face grew red as his eyes widened, both at the fact that Kaiba knew he was injured-which lead him to remembering he was half naked and in the middle of, what he guessed to be, Kaiba's house- and at the damn nickname the rich brat used. After a few seconds of processing the information he quickly slung one arm across his chest, trying to be modest it seemed, while the other balled into a fist and he began to shake it in Kaiba's general direction.

"W-What! I'm not a mutt-and why the hell am I here? What did you do to me Kaiba?!"

"Hold your tongue sir! Master Kaiba sa-" And again the butler was silenced by Kaiba, who gave him a rather cold stare in response to his ignorance. After a moment Kaiba pushed himself from his chair, gathered his things from the table in front of him, and turned to leave the room and go into what looked like a dining room, without a word or glance at Jounouchi.

"Don't ignore me you pompus-"

"Seto I'm home!" Jounouchi was cut off by the bubbly voice of Seto Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba, who ran in moments later. He rushed behind the couches and so didn't pay any attention to the blond sitting there, his blush gone and his fist down now. "Mr. Mishura is here, he went to your office. Oh and did he wake up yet?" Seto stopped and turned toward his brother. He didn't seem quite as cold with him as with everyone else, but even here he wouldn't smile or welcome the young boy. Not in public at least.

"He's over there. Take him to Mori since Jiro doesn't seem competent enough," Seto remarked as he glanced beyond the boy toward the butler, who suddenly bowed and mumbled words and pleas for forgivness. Mokuba didn't pay any attention to the exchange as he smiled and turned toward the, now rather confused, Jonouchi.

"Okay! Sure," Mokuba said as Seto left for his meeting. He ran over to Jonouchi a few moments later and plopped down on the couch next to him, sitting on his knees and facing the older male. Unfortunetly this jarred the injured male and he winced as he held his stomach bandages again. "Hey Jounouchi! Are you feeling better? Oh..uh I guess not right now huh? Sorry about that."

"Uh…yea I'm fine…do you know what's going on here?" he asked, hoping at least someone could explain things to him. At this point he was completely and utterly confused by all of it. And since Seto wasn't explaining anything, or even acknowledging anything, maybe the little brother would be able to explain it.

"Oh, Seto didn't tell you anything? Figures. Well come on, we should see Dr. Mori first to check you out then I'll tell you!"

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"Ow!" Jounouchi whined as the bandages were tightly wrapped around his stomach again by quick and skillful fingers.

"Calm down or I'll have to really fix your stitches soon!" Dr. Mori, a rather attractive middle-aged woman with dark red hair pulled back in a tight bun and pointed purple glasses stated as she clipped his bandages in place. "You're far too lively for being in such a sorry state."

"He's always like that! He was even like that when he came in, remember? He was all wiggly when you were stitching him up," Mokuba said with a grin as he spun around on Dr. Mori's desk chair, oblivious to the glare he was getting from Jounouchi.

"Well, so long as he doesn't strain himself too much he should be fine."

"Okay, we'll keep him from running around," Mokuba said as he finally stopped spinning and looked over at Jonouchi. It was at this point that the blond slammed his hands down on the mat he sat on, which wasn't nearly as dramatic as he had been planning on it being.

"Will someone tell me what the hell's going on around here? Why am I here, who the hell is this? What happened to me last night?!"

"Oh yeah, sorry. Relax will ya, you'll be worrying Seto again."

"I don't give a- wait I'll…what?!"

"Well, why do you think you're even here? Seto thought you were gonna die!" At this point the doctor had packed away her things and left the two alone so she could go report to Seto about Jounouchi's condition.

"What…wait, start over. What happened last night?"

"Ah, well I don't know. I'll tell you everything I could find out from when you got here, but…well, you didn't get here last night. You've been unconscious for like two days."

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**Hehe, cliff hangers are yummy right :p Not as bad as chapter one though, so oh well. Next chapter will be fun, so I hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Feel free to leave reviews, I love them!**


	3. What Had Happened was

**I know you guys missed me.**

**Don't lie. I can see through your lies.**

**Look at you, wondering if I can read your minds. The answer is I can.**

**Anyway! Enough with the creepiness. This is an intense chapter! I had to have Kay help me out guys, because I was wondering just how epic I could make this without overloading you guys with sexy-awesome-super-stuff. But I think I'm going to anyway ;D Hope you like!**

**Again, I own nothing Yu-Gi-Oh related other than the names of OCs or NPCs :0**

**I just realized I should explain this: This is a flashback! So now you guys get to learn what happened to poor Jounouchi :)**

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_A few hours ago it was spring, or the beginning of spring, but as with every calm point in life there has to be something that ruins it and today was no different. Instead of a mild breeze rushing through Domino City, a large thunderstorm rolled in over the course of a few hours, and eventually turned into snow. The freezing water was turning to ice, making it difficult for anyone to travel in this weather. Of course that didn't slow down any of the more annoying civilians from terrorizing others who were just trying to get home as quickly, and safely as possible. Instead, it fueled their fire and gave them primer opportunity to strike. A few thugs were wandering around the back alleys of downtown Domino when classes ended for the day and the usual gangs of students were walking toward their friend's family game store. Of course this group consisted of Yuugi, Anzu, Honda and Jounouchi but not for long. As the storm got worse on their walk Honda and Anzu opted to split off and go toward their homes, which were in a different direction from the store. Jounouchi, never in a rush to get home, decided to follow Yuugi despite the store and he would soon be glad he did so._

_They took their normal shortcut through a few alleyways that lead to a plaza not far from the store. Along the way they were busy shielding themselves from the snow and watching their steps as the ground below them got slick with ice. They barely spoke but when they did it was mainly a complaint, or some kind of joke to lighten the mood. It wasn't until they were just a few feet from the mouth of the alleyway, where they could see the red roof of the game shop, that a group of thugs appeared. If this had been any other day, or any other group, Jounouchi wouldn't have been so worried but the two had dealt with these punks on multiple occasions and they seemed just fine with killing their victims as with beating them. Cursing under his breath, Jounouchi grabbed Yuugi's arm and tried to turn with him but the ice beneath them caused for a slip up and they nearly went sliding into the group waiting for them._

_"Heh, they don't have their ice legs yet boss!"_

_"Good. Get them, we'll show them just what we can do." Jounouchi pulled Yuugi up, and himself, by grabbing a pipe nearby and hoisting himself up. It didn't help his hand any with the cold, but he got over it as he ran down another alleyway._

_"J-Jounouchi w-what are we going to do!" Yuugi asked as he tried to keep up with the taller male but wasn't having an easy time doing it. Jounouchi stopped for a second, on the first dry patch of ground he could, and pulled Yuugi over to him before kneeling down._

_"Get on, fast!" Yuugi didn't need a second command as he climbed on Jounouchi's back and they took off again. He tried to run as fast as he could, but between the ice and Yuugi's added weight he was significantly slowed down from normal. If it weren't for these conditions he wouldn't have ran at all, but this wasn't a fair fight. If they could run at top speed on the ice then they had some advantage that he didn't know about, and he wasn't looking forward to figuring it out. Unfortunately he didn't notice, when he grabbed Yuugi, the group following them had split and the second half showed at the opening of the alley they were in and he had to quickly turn, again, this time slamming half of his body into a brick building. He did well to avoid Yuugi getting hit, though his arm got slightly clipped. "You okay?" he asked as he started off again, his breath getting a little heavy now. Yuugi just nodded and closed his eyes as he clung to Jounouchi._

_This was around the time when Jounouchi noticed that the alleyway he ran into was a dead-end. "Dammit!" he grumbled as he looked around, trying to figure out how to at least get Yuugi out of there. That's when he noticed a fire escape at the end of the alley. He couldn't have reached it alone, but if Yuugi climbed up on his shoulders he had the possibility of grabbing it and at this point that was their best shot. "Yuugi, you've got to grab that fire escape and climb up to the roof. Try to get inside!"_

_"W-what about you?"_

_"You know me, I'll be fine. Now get climbing." Yuugi hesitated for a second but Jounouchi glared at him as he heard the sharp steps of the gang members behind them. He didn't hesitated again before reaching for the metal bar and as soon as it's in his grasp he climbs up, stepping over Jounouchi's shoulders as he does. When Yuugi got to the first platform of the fire escape Jounouchi looked up and gave him a thumbs up. "Don't bother with your games okay? You and the Pharaoh get back to your grandpa before he worries. I've taken care of these guys before!" Although he hesitated once again Yuugi eventually agreed, knowing he'd just get in the way if he tried to stay and help, so he began climbing the fire escape toward the roof. In the meantime Jounouchi was faced with more guys than he originally anticipated. He glanced around, trying to think of some leverage he could use to get past the now snickering group. That's when he noticed their shoes. He could see the glint of a few spikes sticking out from the soles and he realized that's how they got around the ice without issue, and he knew how he could use it to his advantage, at least for a minute._

_You would think these guys were use to Jounouchi doing stupid, crazy things to get the one-up over them but apparently they weren't. Instead they all stared liked idiots as he came running at them and jumped up, kicking a few of them in the faces as he tried to run over, through and one them to get away. A few of them knocked him down once then twice, but he still fought his way through the crowd until he wasn't trapped at a dead end any more at least. "You'll have to do better, losers!" he said before running off again. If he was going to make them fight fair he was going to have to get them in a different location._

_"Boss, what should we do? He ran off but the other one climbed up the escape."_

_"Leave the twerp, I just want Jounouchi." The goons nodded and ran after the blond, their cleats cracking the ice beneath them as they did so. The sound of cracking ice started to give Jounouchi an idea, but he wasn't sure how he could use it, and to be honest he wasn't sure how much longer he could run on this ice without falling or skidding into something when he needed to turn. For now, he'd just have to keep straight. And that's what he did for about five minutes until he felt something hitting the back of his legs and realized they weren't as far behind him that he thought. The ice that they sent flying from their cleats hit the back of his legs continuously as they got closer and, the flight reflex getting to him; cause him to suddenly turn down a left wing of the alleyway. Or at least he tried. Instead he went skidding into the corner of a building and knocked the air out of his lungs. The goons took the advantage and started kicking him with the tips of their shoes, a few of the front cleats stabbing into his arms and sides. When they believed he wouldn't move they pulled him up and waited for their boss._

_"Well, well, well. Jounouchi it looks like you've lost your edge."_

_"Heh, against you guys? You wish," he said as a few drops of blood dripped from his lips down his chin. The gang leader narrowed his eyes before punching Jounouchi in the face, sending his head flying back and hitting the corner of the building again. The thugs laughed all around him, making his head spin. He just coughed and tried to keep his head off when he regained control of his reflexes. The boss smirked._

_"I'll give you one last shot. Join us this time and you can take over as right hand man in our little establishment. But if you don't then we're going to have to cut any loose ends starting with you and ending with the twerp."_

_"If you dumbasses didn't notice, every time you go after Yug he beats your asses," Jounouchi spat as blood now dripped from his nose after that punch._

_"Not this time, we have the advantage now. So what's your choice?" Without saying a word Jounouchi spat at the leader, leaving a trail of his own blood down the other man's face._

_"B-boss?" one of the goons stammered when they sat their boss's face distort with rage._

_"Finish him!" They all nodded and began throwing punches at Jounouchi as two of them held him up. Once they were sure Jounouchi wouldn't be fighting back any time soon, since he was sagging in their arms and looked limp, the thugs started kicking him, sending forceful kicks throughout his body to make sure they pierced skin with their cleats._

_During this beating most people were already done with their days and gone. Any who were in the buildings around the event did their best to ignore it and to not get involved due to fear that they would be next. And most of the streets around the alleys were empty accept for the odd car here or there. One of those cars passed by just as Jounouchi was hoisted up again, waiting for another round of kicks, and his blond hair caught someone's gaze from the back seat. "Stop the car."_

_"Sir?" The driver in the front of the car asked as he slowly came to a stop on the dead road._

_"Back up to that alley." The driver nodded and slowly reversed the car enough so that the young man in the back seat could now see the incident properly. The thugs weren't paying him any attention, either because they figured no one would bother them or they just were too enveloped with their deed to pay attention. "Hayate, Shun, go stop them."_

_"Yes sir," they moved without question to get out of the car, the driver being one of the two men mentioned. Needless to say the thugs were rather surprised when two large men in suits came running down the alleyway, careful of the ice as they could be, to take a few of them out with rather powerful punches. The leader of the group cursed and grabbed Jounouchi from the others, keeping the final blow for himself._

_"Stop them!" The thugs lunged at the two larger men, bringing the fight into the side alleyway. While this was happening the young man in the back of the car grabbed his signature metal briefcase and stepped into the alleyway with a rather emotionless face. He calmly walked toward the leader, who was holding Jounouchi up by his collar and was preparing to punch him in the face yet again. Unlike his thugs, however, he noticed the visitor and dropped Jounouchi's body on the cold ground before turning to the male. "Here to play hero?" he asked as he raised his fists. The young man, now easily identified as Seto Kaiba, glanced down the opposite alleyway where he could see his bodyguards dealing with the rest of the group rather well. In that case he didn't see there being much of an issue with the situation any more. So he glanced back at the leader before looking down at Jounouchi rather coldly. "Too scared to talk? I don't blame you; let me show you why you shouldn't have bothered messing with us, rich brat!" The leader lunged for him with fists raised and Kaiba didn't miss a beat. He raised his briefcase in a high-arched swing, hitting the man in the jaw and momentarily stunning him before bringing it down again and knocking his down in a crook angle. He stumbled back slightly, accidently stepping over Jounouchi's body. The weight of his large frame sent the spikes on his cleats directly into the soft flesh of Jounouchi's stomach. If the male wasn't knocked out before he was then as blood soaked his clothes and spewed from his mouth._

_Kaiba glanced at the scene before his eyes narrowed. He jumped at the male, swinging his briefcase from the side this time and knocked his head into the wall. The impact of the metal and then the brick knocked the large man out and just in time too. Hayate and Shun finished up with their group of thugs and returned to Seto as they wiped their hands off of any lingering blood. They wondered why they were dealing with these petty thugs but didn't question Kaiba's orders and didn't say a thing as they watched him staring down at the unconscious Jounouchi, who looked like he was losing blood rather quickly. "Shun, call Mori and have her prepare her practice for a patient." The man, who had been the driver before, quickly ran back to the car. "Hayate, give me your coat." The other man took off his coat and offered it to Kaiba, who laid it on the ground beside Jounouchi. He then picked the unconscious man up slightly and laid him back down, on the coat, to keep the blood from getting everywhere. Once he was situated Kaiba tied the sleeves of the coat around Jounouchi's chest to keep it in place and then picked him, and the coat, up and walked toward the car. While he was rather strong for his apparent size, he probably couldn't have carried Jounouchi much farther than that car and for that reason Hayate kept close behind in case he passed the body along._

_Once they were situated, and Seto was sure that Jounouchi's blood wouldn't ruin his car, they sped off through the storm to the Kaiba mansion beyond Domino City. Once they arrived, the blood having soaked through the coat anyway and Kaiba's hands stained from trying to stop the bleeding by putting pressure on the wound, they were greeted by Dr. Mori and Mokuba. Jounouchi was rushed inside and brought to Dr. Mori's live-in practice where his wounds were treated while Kaiba washed the blood off his hands and went along with his business._

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**Was that sexy or what?**

**Sorry that Yuugi didn't do much more but, um, well it's not his story! He'll be in and out, but for right now Yug's just a background character and I let him live, so don't be all mad.**

**Please review, reviews are loved *hearts***


	4. The Secret

**Guys, I'm like, so tired.**

**I refused to go to sleep until this chapter was done though! (I'll probably regret this in the morning when I have to get up for work...) I hope you guys like this chapter!**

**Again, I own nothing V.V**

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Jounouchi just sort of stared at Mokuba as he finished explaining things to him. Some of it started to come back to him, but the rest was just a blur, and he still didn't understand why Kaiba stepped in. Sure, he was thankful because it sounded like he would have been in a worse state, if not dead, without his help but it was odd nonetheless. Mokuba seemed to pick up on his thoughts and sighed as he leaned back in the chair he dragged over to Jounouchi's bed during the story. The two had returned to the spare room that Kaiba was letting him stay in so he could rest since Dr. Mori didn't seem too thrilled about him moving around just yet. "What's wrong with you?" Mokuba asked after seeing the confused look on Jounouchi's face. Part of him thought he wasn't feeling well because of moving around, and the other part wondered if he was just confused about the story.

"I just don't get why your brother would help me out," he said honestly, to which Mokuba just shrugged.

"I don't know, I was surprised when we got the call that he was coming back with you. Of course we didn't know it was you, so we were already confused, but you just confused us more. Seto won't explain himself but it probably has to do with publicity."

"Publicity?"

"Yea, you know he's always got people following him around since he's the CEO of Kaiba Corp. It doesn't explain why he stopped in the first place…but I guess it explains why you're here."

"Glad you figured it out; could you explain it to me now?" Jounouchi grumbled as he leaned back against the multiple pillows he had behind him. This place was really strange compared to his home, if it could be called that, but then again he wasn't use to being somewhere like this. Hell, he couldn't even really remember ever being here before, if he was. His mind was still a little fuzzy since waking up.

"You really are dense. Do you know what would have happened if Seto showed up at some hospital with you? Not only would he be questioned for your condition but the fact that you're Yuugi's friend, his main rival that nearly everyone knows he hates, doesn't help the situation. It would have sent the paparazzi in a frenzy." Mokuba said with a shrug and a smirk as if this was something Jounouchi should have pieced together on his own, and he felt like he should have after he heard it. "So I guess he brought you here, and I mean Dr. Mori is awesome so you're probably better off here than anywhere else anyway! But, I still don't know why he stopped to help you out. I honestly always thought he hated you so I don't know!"

"Yea…weird." Jounouchi thought about it and Mokuba was right, from the sound of everything he was healing a lot faster than he would have in a normal hospital so this Dr. Mori was one talented lady. As for the whole, Kaiba hating him, he was already positive about that and it only confused him more. So much so that he didn't notice the slight frown coming to his lips. Mokuba did but he just figured it was because he was confused and tired so he quickly jumped up from his seat and leaned on Jounouchi's bed.

"You should rest! The other's will probably be here soon so you better be ready for visitors." He smiled, trying to brighten Jounouchi's mood. It just confused him more.

"Others? What am I going to be tested on by weird doctors or something?" he asked with a disturbed face as images of alien abductions popped into his head and he feared the worst. But he wouldn't put it past Kaiba to arrange for some torture or ridicule to come from this odd help.

"Yea, Yuugi and them are on their way to check on you!"

"Really? So Yuugi's okay?"

"Yea, you got him away in time, remember?"

"Oh, okay…wait, why are they coming here? Did you tell them I'm alive or something?" Jounouchi may have been confused but at least this was something that he could handle and it didn't hurt his head as much as dealing with Kaiba. He was just plain grinning as he thought about seeing his friends again instead of being trapped in this weird place. Something was going on here and he wasn't sure what it was, but maybe his friends could explain it to him.

"No, they probably don't know yet. Seto has a car pick them up after school ends so they can check up on you."

"Why?" Okay, Jounouchi was confused again. Why was Kaiba doing all this crap? It didn't make any sense and it certainly didn't seem like him, unless he had alternative motives which Jounouchi was almost positive he had to have.

"Because when you came here I figured your friends would freak out when you went missing, so I contacted your school and told them to tell your friends that you were here at the mansion. I sort of forgot to explain why though and…well, they went to Kaiba Corp and started causing a big scene that eventually got the security to call Seto and he had a car pick them up and bring them here to show them that you were alive. They keep asking to come over every day to check on you. I've gotta tell you, you're a lot bigger hassle than we thought you'd be, for an unconscious guy." Mokuba chuckled as he jumped up on the side of Jounouchi's bed, bouncing a bit which jarred the injured blond and caused him to flinch. He tried to subside it since he didn't really mind Mokuba's company in this chilly place and didn't want the kid to leave just because he was bouncy.

"Well sooorrry," he said sarcastically with his trademark grin as he relaxed back into the pillows once again and waited. He was excited to see everyone, and hoped they could help fill in a few more details about this place. And it would turn out that he didn't have long to wait. A few moments later the same maid from earlier, and just as shy as before, knocked on the door and poked her head in but refused to look up at either Jounouchi or Mokuba.

"Visitors sir," she mumbled before quickly leaving and rushing back to her post down the hall. A few moments later the door opened and in toppled Anzu, Yuugi and Honda. The grin Jounouchi had a moment ago grew like never before and was mirrored by a few looks from his friend. Mokuba was even cheered by the happiness that seemed to brighten the room, which was odd for the Kaiba mansion.

"Jounouchi!" Yuugi said as he ran forward, his eyes watery and wide. "You're okay! We were all so worried. I shouldn't have left, I'm sorry!"

"Nah, don't sweat it Yug. If you had been around I'd probably be in worse shape trying to help you anyway. I'm glad you left." His grin faltered. Even though he knew what happened now, he still couldn't remember much. Yuugi also didn't look very convinced but Anzu squeezed his shoulder and smiled over to Jounouchi as Honda walked around to the other side of the bed.

"How are you doing Jounouchi? We didn't know you were up yet."

"Yea, I'm fine. Kinda sore, yah know, but nothing new. I just woke up this morning I guess, I don't really know what time it was." He shrugged a bit and looked around at his friends. Things seemed a bit more normal now, but he couldn't shake these odd feelings he kept having about this place. His words seemed to spark something in Mokuba, however.

"Hey! You've gotta be hungry right? I'll go ask Dr. Mori if you can have something to eat yet! Bye guys, I'll be back a.s.a.p.!" He ran off quickly, partially because he figured the gang wanted their privacy and particularly because he wanted to ask Seto a few things. After explaining everything he was certainly interested in finding out more and his curiosity about his brother's actions was mounting again. So he ran to Seto's office, hoping his meeting was over and that Dr. Mori was still around.

In the room everyone was getting situated. Honda was leaning against the window sill besides the bed while Anzu sat down on the abandoned chair and Yuugi just roamed around, still feeling bad about the whole situation. He held too much guilt on his shoulders to just shake it off. And no one really seemed to know what to say at first but it would be Honda who finally spoke up. "Sooo, this is an odd situation, but I bet you can make the most of it huh?" he said with a wicked grin and a nudge in Jounouchi's direction. It took him a second to realize what he meant before his face lit up in a deep blush and his eyes widened. He reached behind him and pulled out one of the loose pillows used to prop him up and threw it at Honda. He dodged and it hit the window instead with a clatter.

"Shut up you idiot! I'll kick your ass!" Yuugi stopped pacing and Anzu just stared. They had no idea what was going on. Honda, on the other hand, just grinned in a mischievous way. Jounouchi sat there, leaning forward a bit, and rose his fists as if he would jump up and attack Honda at any moment. They all knew he wouldn't, or at least he couldn't, but the threat was there.

"Calm down, it was just a joke. So do you know happened?" Jounouchi pouted for a few moments, still rather pissed off by the hinted remark but eventually sighed and leaned back again. This time with a groan. He really shouldn't have moved his middle so much, the stitches were too sore for him to ignore like the others.

"Mokuba told me some stuff, but I'm still really confused. Mainly I don't get why I'm still here."

"That's our fault," Anzu said as she moved the chair closer to the bed. Yuugi, seeming to be brought back to life by the odd moment that transpired, carefully sat on the end of Jounouchi's bed since there wasn't anywhere else.

"What do you mean?" Jounouchi asked as he turned, slightly, so he could see everyone more or less without moving too much.

"Well, when we came over two days ago and saw your condition we were all really worried and thought Kaiba was being an idiot for keeping you from the hospital," Anzu started.

"But then we met Dr. Mori! She's really nice, and explained the condition you were in and that we were lucky you were even alive," Yuugi added quickly. Anzu nodded before looking back at Jounouchi.

"Yea, and then we all started talking and thinking about everything it would mean to take you somewhere else."

"Mainly," Honda began. "We thought about your life at home. If you already have all this money you've got to spend on your father, and school, and then the shit you have to deal with at home on top of that, then we figured you didn't need hospital bills on top of that. And we weren't sure what your dad would do when he found out you were in the hospital." Jounouchi's face darkened at the mention of his father. He really hadn't thought about that.

"Wait…won't I have to repay Kaiba for this anyway? It's probably even more expensive." He didn't mention that he was pretty sure his father was going to be pissed no matter where he was if he didn't show up for a few days.

"No, Yuugi talked to him about it. Apparently Dr. Mori gets paid the same rate whether someone is injured or not, and no matter what injury or illness she has to take care of. It's in her contract. So there's really no difference in what he's paying so he doesn't care."

"I doubt that," Jounouchi mumbled after Anzu finished. He knew something was going on here and he wasn't exactly excited about dealing with it. Whatever Kaiba had up his sleeve it couldn't be good.

The group continued to talk about the situation for a little while before Mokuba came back with some drinks for everyone and some weird looking food for Jounouchi, who had a horrified face when it was placed in front of him. "Sorry! Dr. Mori says this is all you can have for now. Your stomach is still too open for anything that takes a lot of acid to digest…or something likes that." He shrugged and put the plate on Jounouchi's lap where it would be forgotten about for a while. The group then went on to talk about a bunch of other things, stopping here and there when Jounouchi couldn't handle something like laughing or talking for too long. It was in these moments that he realized just how tense everyone in the room was. They were all waiting for him to fall apart. The more he noticed it, the more it started pissing him off, but he wasn't going to say anything. They were right to worry, hell he was worried, he just hated it.

"Okay, well we should get going, and you need some rest," Anzu said a few hours later as she stood up from her chair and stretched. Yuugi frowned but got up with her.

"I guess so, we'll see you tomorrow Jounouchi!" He just nodded to the spikey haired kid and smiled. He liked the idea of seeing the others on a regular basis, like at school, but that just reminded him how he was staying at the Kaiba mansion and he still couldn't comprehend that.

"Hiroto come here a sec," Jounouchi said as the group got ready to leave. Honda walked over and leaned down, just so he could hear what Jounouchi whispered to him.

"Leave a note or something for my dad okay? I don't know when I'm going to get back and it could get worse than it already is going to be if he doesn't have some warning."

"No problem," Honda gave him a sad smile before waving him off as the group left. Mokuba, who had watched the transition between the two males, got up and followed the group out to see them off. He liked all the visitors, honestly. It made the place feel more alive. Unfortunately he got over looked sometimes, like always, and now was one of those times. As the group got out of the mansion they slowed their pace and began talking among themselves, ignoring Mokuba's close presence and ability to hear them.

"What was that about," Anzu asked as they made their way to the car waiting for them at the front gate.

"What? The whisper? He just wants me to give his dad a heads up, not that it'll help anything."

"Oh, yea it probably won't…but that's not what I meant. I mean what was with that big scene when Mokuba left? Why was he threatening you?"

"O-oh that!" Honda scratched the back of his head and grinned again. "I can't tell you, I promised Jounouchi I'd keep quiet."

"You already started blabbing though, Honda! So you can trust us, we won't tell anyone else!"

"Yuugi, if I tell you there won't really be anyone else to tell, now will there?"

"No, but we really want to know. Please?" Yuugi jumped in front of Honda and looked up at him with an expecting gaze, hoping to find out what was going on. It seemed like Honda knew something he didn't, and it at least made Jounouchi seem more like his old self rather than the broken guy he was now and that's what really mattered to Yuugi.

"Eh…well, let's just say there's a reason he and Mai broke up a few months ago," he murmured, trying to figure out how to hint at the secret without giving it away.

"Because she's a blond bimbo?" Anzu asked with a sneer, still harboring distain feelings toward the woman since the Duelest Kingdom. Honda laughed but shook his head.

"Eh-ha no. Well, I guess kinda. Let's just say Jono isn't…attracted to _people_ like her."

"Um…blondes?" Yuugi asked, still confused as ever. Honda just covered his face with his hand and tried to think of another way to explain.

"Yuugi, sometimes you really act your height. No, I mean he doesn't like girls." Honda peeked between his fingers at his two friends; waiting for the reaction he knew was coming. Anzu and Yuugi exchanged looks a few times before they both jumped back in surprise.

"Jounouchi is gay?!" Honda covered their mouths with his hands and hushed them as quickly as he could.

"Keep it down you two! He doesn't want the whole world to know. But yea, he is." Once he was sure they wouldn't yell again he uncovered their mouths and put his hands in his pockets.

"Woah…I…well I never would have guessed. But, I still don't get it. How would this give him the incentive to make the most of this situation?" Anzu questioned with a frown. This was all too much to process at once. Yuugi, however, was putting the pieces together like a puzzle in his head. When it all finally clicked he gasped and looked at Honda with wide eyes.

"Jounouchi…likes Kaiba?!"

"Bingo. Or at least I think so, he denies it but we'll see what happens now that he's here." Anzu couldn't believe it, and honestly neither could Yuugi. They never even guessed that Jounouchi could have been gay or, to be more accurate, they never really thought about it. Jounouchi was always just there, he never was very popular with the girls, or the guys, and he never had a lot of dates but he didn't seem to care so it wasn't something they found hints at. But it was enough to keep them chatting until they got to the car Kaiba had waiting for them. Unlike the other days, Mokuba didn't say goodbye to them this time. He was still surprised at the information he just overheard.

"Gay huh? This could be interesting."

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**Mokuba's such a schemer. I hope you guys liked this chapter!**

**Reviews = love *hearts***


	5. Serious Dicussions

**Guys, I meant for this to be a short chapter, I really did. It just didn't work out that way.**

**I do have to say, this chapter has life lessons, so everyone should pay attention!**

**I own nothing accept for my life (and Kay's face because I claim her face)**

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Once everyone left Jounouchi relaxed and just sat in the darkening room, not really caring about turning on the lamp on the bedstead beside him, and thought about his situation. No matter what Kaiba was up to, Jounouchi was still indebted to him for helping him out. As odd as it seemed to think about Kaiba being able to do anything like Mokuba described he couldn't help but believe it. Otherwise it didn't make any sense as to why Jounouchi was alive, or here. And he doubted Kaiba even told any of that to Mokuba. It was probably the two bodyguards that explained the situation and they had no reason to lie or embellish. It wasn't like Kaiba cared what Jounouchi thought about him, or thought at all. Hell that was the worst part of all of this. Jounouchi knew Kaiba didn't look at him as anything other than an annoyance so he couldn't wrap his mind around the idea of Kaiba caring about him in any way, especially not enough to save him from those thugs. It would have made more sense if the guy had saved Yuugi instead! At least then everyone would know that Yuugi meant something to Kaiba – even if it was only the title Yuugi held. But Jounouchi? He wasn't anything special so why?

"Ugh! Fucking Kaiba," he groaned to himself as he slowly slid his body down in the bed and laid his head against the pillows. The one he had thrown at Honda earlier was still on the ground by the window but he didn't notice it as he closed his eyes and thought about everything that happened since he woke up. Mainly his mind focused around when his friends were over, and he mentally noted to kick Honda's ass when he got back home. _Home_. His father was going to have a fit if he didn't get back soon, but he couldn't do anything about it. Hell, he could barely walk down the hall at this point without the pain slowing him down. How would he ever make it home to deal with his father? The thugs might not have killed him but he didn't put it past his father to finish the job and he really didn't want to find out if he would. No, for now he would have to just stay here and when he was strong enough to fend off his own father's attacks he'd leave. As soon as he could. Unless he was sent to the hospital, which he was fine with too. Sure he'd have to get another job on top of his first two, but hey at least he wouldn't be indebted to Kaiba. Not as much as he felt he was going to be at this rate. "Dammit…why…uuugh whatever," he grumbled as he slowly turned onto his side, facing away from the window and toward the door, so he could go to sleep. His visit drained him of the last of his energy.

And he wouldn't mind a few nights of restful sleep instead of always sleeping with one eye open while he tried to deal with his father. A few nights wouldn't hurt. No, they wouldn't hurt at all, and it was that thought that finally let Jounouchi drift off to sleep. He was fast asleep when Mokuba went back to check on him and to see if he ate his food, which he didn't, but that was alright. He took the plate and left the room as quietly as he could, though his thoughts were rather clouded from the information he gained earlier about their guest. He cleaned off the plate in the kitchen and put it in the sink before running into the living room and jumping on the couch. It was nearly time for him to go to bed but that meant it was the hour that he got to be with Seto without any distractions.

"Seto?" he questioned as he looked around, wondering where he was. Usually Kaiba was waiting for his little brother in the room but this time it was empty. When he heard footsteps from the other room he felt a tight twang in his chest as he expected it to be one of the butlers coming to tell him that Seto couldn't be bothered with him tonight. Instead it was Kaiba, who was finishing up a phone call before leaving his phone, as well as his other electronics, on the table in the hall. "You made it!"

"Why wouldn't I?" Seto questioned as he walked in and sat down on the couch that Mokuba bounced on. Mokuba's eyes lit up and he shrugged, giggling a little. He was just being silly. Seto only canceled their hour together when something really important was happening, like the other night when he found Jounouchi. Otherwise this happened every day at whatever time Mokuba wanted! It may have been odd to have to schedule time with his own brother, but he didn't mind. It made sense to him since Seto was an important business man. "So what are we doing?"

"Oh, um how about a game of chess?" Seto gave a slight smile, one Mokuba was only allowed to see, and nodded. Mokuba couldn't help but grin as he got up and went toward one of the cabinets in the room. He pulled out a small, rough looking chess set that didn't really seem appropriate for the house. In the corner of either side Mokuba and Seto's names were carved into the wood and a few scorch marks lined Seto's side from where it was once thrown into a fire when their adoptive father tried to destroy it. Kaiba stared at it and remembered how painful it had been to pull the board out from the flames. He couldn't use his hand for a week after that without it hurting – not that his so called father cared. "Is it okay if we use this one?" Mokuba asked timidly, knowing this was something that was both important to his brother and just a reminder of how bad things were before.

"It's fine, what color do you want to be?"

"White!"

"Alright," Seto said as he pulled the black pieces from the hidden drawer at the base of the board. The two sat on the couch, a cushion between them holding the board, and set up each of their sides. When they were ready Mokuba began. The game was slow paced, as Mokuba tried to overanalyze everything Seto did. One day, he had vowed when they were still in the orphanage, Mokuba was going to beat Seto. It hadn't happened yet, at least not at chess. But tonight he had a secret plan that he was sure would at least end the game in a draw. He had to wait until the perfect moment to use it, however. And so, for a good half hour, the two slowly took down each other's pieces. Mokuba would take a few minutes to decide where to move his pieces while Seto already seemed to have the game set up in his head. He didn't gloat or poke fun at Mokuba like he would have anyone else, in fact he even hinted at a few things he could do. For Mokuba it was a challenge that meant everything if he could just one day win, to Seto he was simply teaching his little brother a few things. Other games the older brother would loose on purpose, just because he didn't want Mokuba to think he was always some loser like the rest of the people in the world, but chess wasn't one of those games. He knew how important it was to his little brother.

And that's why the two didn't talk too much during the game. They didn't have to. Kaiba knew everything that happened in Mokuba's day, and Mokuba couldn't figure out his big brother half the time so he didn't try anymore. But tonight was going to be different. He wanted to gauge his brother's reaction to something he heard earlier and he saw the perfect opportunity to do so when he noticed that all Seto had to do was move his queen and Mokuba's king would have fallen into a check. As Seto grabbed his piece and began to move it Mokuba finally spoke up. "Seto, what does _gay_ mean?" The queen fell onto the board with a hallow thunk and rolled for a moment before stopping. Kaiba's hand didn't move from the spot it had been when it was holding her. Mokuba had to hold back his grin as he looked up at his brother's face, which was frozen in a slightly surprised look for a few seconds before he looked across at Mokuba. Of course Mokuba knew what it meant, but Seto didn't need to know that.

"Why are you asking about that?" Mokuba just smiled when really he was trying to stop from smirking.

"Well, I heard someone talking about someone being gay and I was confused. So what does it mean?" He leaned in, not really caring about the game anymore. Seto leaned back at the same time, both pondering how to explain this and looking for a way out of this all together.

"It's an old term for happy," he tried to get away with. The look Mokuba gave him obviously showed it didn't work.

"That doesn't make sense with what they were talking about…." Seto just sighed and leaned against the arm of the couch, his legs crossed as he did so. He could tell the game was over for now and he really was hoping someone would call him away for something any time now.

"What were they talking about?" Mokuba frowned, thinking about how to phrase this without giving it away that it was Jounouchi.

"Uh…well they were talking about how their one friend broke up with someone because they were gay and they liked someone all their friends disapproved of. So they never told their friends they were gay before." Mokuba moved around so he was sitting Indian style on the couch and looked over at Seto before adding, "Why wouldn't they tell their friends if they were happy?" Seto just sighed again and rang his fingers across his forehead as he tried to think of what to say.

"Gay…also has something to do with…" he kept pausing, trying to figure out how to say this but he was having a rather hard time with this type of question coming from out of the blue. It was times like this he wished they had someone else who worried about this sort of stuff. "…who they're attracted to. Instead of a guy dating a girl, a guy would date another guy if he were gay."

"Oh! So, why didn't they tell their friends?"

"I don't know. They were probably afraid," Seto said off handedly.

"Afraid? Of what?"

"Not everyone is alright with people being gay." Mokuba opened his mouth as if he were saying 'oh' but didn't make any sound. Seto was doing his best to keep his patience with the subject.

"Seto, are you okay with gay people?" Kaiba glanced over at his brother and there seemed to be something said in his eyes that the rest of him didn't say, but Mokuba wasn't exactly sure what it was.

"It makes no difference to me."

"Oh, okay! Is it better to tell someone about being gay or not to then?" Seto propped his arm up on the back of the couch and leaned his head onto his hand, rubbing his temple from time to time as he thought over how to answer all of these questions.

"It depends on the situation and the person."

"Oh…how do you find out if you're gay?"

"You're too young to worry about that," Seto quickly answered. Mokuba took the quick response in the wrong way and tilt his head to the side.

"Would you be okay with me if I were gay, Seto?" Kaiba looked up and his face soften slightly, his eyes reflecting that same look he had before, which Mokuba watched intensely.

"Of course. You're just too young to know yet, you won't know until you're older."

"Oh…" he paused in his questioning, debating on asking the last one that was weighing heavily on his mind. Seto was watching him this time and seemed to see the question coming, and wasn't in the mood to answer it. But he couldn't just get up and leave, not when it was Mokuba. So he sat there, rather ridged, and waited for it to come.

"Um, if you knew someone was gay and they liked someone else, but you weren't sure if that person was gay, what would you do?" Kaiba looked at his brother oddly, confused by this question for a moment before shrugging and regaining his normal composure.

"Nothing. If I even cared, I still wouldn't do anything, it would be none of my business."

"Well…how does one gay guy figure out if another guy is gay?"

"I don't know," Seto said with another shrug. He was letting his guard down too easily, thinking that Mokuba was rounding back around to end the conversation, which was wrong.

"Oh, so does that mean you're not gay, Seto?" The sudden question took Kaiba by surprise, leaving him sitting there for a moment just staring as he tried to figure out what to say. The easy answer would be no, but then he was sure there would be a whole slew of other questions waiting for him from there. He finally decided that this conversation needed to end so he stood up and looked down at Mokuba, who was frowning.

"That's not important. I have to finish some work, don't stay up late again," he said as he turned away and grabbed his things from the table outside of the living room. Mokuba pouted but let him run from the conversation. It was enough of an open gap that let him think things over for himself. And at least he didn't lose another game. This one was just frozen in place. He looked down at it and moved Seto's queen into the area he was sure Seto was going to put it. It took him a good ten minutes but he eventually figured out how to get Seto's queen out and check his king at the same time. He had the possibility of winning but gave it up for a conversation. He was alright with that, however, because there was plenty of time for him to beat his brother and there was only so much time to test out his ideas.

They would have to wait for another night, however, because Mokuba was rather tired at this point and eventually left the living room – leaving the chess set in place on the table to show Seto he could have almost won – and going up to his bedroom. He stopped at Jounouchi's room on the way to see if he was still up but it was clear, by how dark the room was, that he was passed out. Mokuba just smiled and closed the door before going to his room and getting ready for bed. He ran into a few maids here and there, quickly going about their nightly cleaning, and asked one of them to bring him something to drink. When he was out of his bathroom, dressed for bed, he saw the drink on his night stand and guzzled it down before jumping into bed and drifting off to bed with thoughts twirling around his brain.

Eventually the house quieted down. The maids finished their jobs for the night and slowly left to their own quarters so they could rest up for another day of the same work. Jounouchi and Mokuba were out as well, so that left only one person really awake in the house – Seto. Try as he may he couldn't get the conversation with Mokuba out of his head. He didn't understand where this was suddenly coming from, or who he could have heard about this from. Sure he had been out the day before but that was just for a drive with Shun to pick up Mr. Mishura. So unless Shun had this conversation with Mokuba, which he seriously doubted, then it had to come from somewhere else. Slowly the pieces fell and he realized it had to have happened when the geek squad was there. They must have been talking about someone in their little group being gay. Realizing that just made Seto let out an aggregative sigh. It would be their fault he had to deal with that out of the blue.

And because of this he wasn't focusing on his work, which eventually led to him leaving the last of his paperwork for the next morning. By now it was nearly midnight and Mokuba had gone to bed a few hours earlier so he was sure to be quiet as he left his office and walked upstairs. His bedroom, like Mokuba's, was on the third floor of the house only on the other side of the hall. Instead of going the short way, however, he took the same path Mokuba had taken a few hours earlier and stopped outside of Jounouchi's door. He stared at the knob for a moment before quietly turning it and stepping inside, letting the door softly click closed behind him.

Seto glanced around; his eyes taking in the unchanged furnishing of the room as he slowly took in every shadow, adjusting his eyes to the darkness. He made a point of avoiding looking at the bed, however. It wasn't until his eyes adjusted to the little light in the room, only coming from the stormy gray clouds outside where the snow continued to fall, that he finally glanced at the bed. He walked over, making sure to keep his boots quiet against the carpeted floor, until he was at the side of the bed and was able to look down over Jounouchi's form. Like the past three nights since showing up, each of which Kaiba had come in to check on him, the blond had a distorted face of pain and sweat covering his head. Seto wasn't sure if it was just how his body was healing that made him look like that, or if it was some continuous nightmare. Either way, it didn't look very enjoyable. So, like the nights before, Kaiba went into the joined bathroom and picked up one of the washcloths from the towel rack and held it under cold water for a few minutes before ringing it out and folding it into a rectangle. He went back to Jounouchi's bedside and carefully placed the cloth on his forehead to help get his night-fever down. He watched for a few minutes until Jounouchi's face slowly eased from its painful expression until he just looked sound asleep again, and then Kaiba left.

He quietly slipped through the door and closed it again before turning back the way he came. He walked all the way across the hall, purposely doing so in order to ensure that he didn't wake up Mokuba somehow, and took the stairs all the way to his own room, which he closed and locked the door of before getting ready for bed himself.

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**It was a S****eto chapter omg! :0**

**Hope everyone liked it! Reviews are loved :3**


	6. Bonding Time

**Guuuuys this is all I've done all day. I'm just ignoring all of my homework for this story...it's bad lol.**

**Kay likes the story though so it must go on! I hope you guys like the story!**

**I own nothing (Accept OOCS and plots 3)**

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For the next week after Jounouchi first woke up everything seemed to slip into some sort of pattern. And it wasn't just for him. Sure he had his daily check up with Dr. Mori, and then there was the daily visit by his friends – all of which were acting rather odd as if they wanted to say something but they didn't know how to – but it wasn't just Jounouchi who was sucked into the pattern. After that little conversation with Mokuba, Seto got into the habit of making sure they avoided long conversations at all cost, and anything that relatively laid along the subject of being gay. He didn't want to be sucked in again. Next time he wasn't sure he could end the conversation like he had that day. Mokuba was known for being as stubborn as he was, and it was surprisingly hard to avoid the kid when he had his mind set on something. So the week went by with a thickening silence between the siblings that eventually drove Mokuba to finding other sources of amusement and companionship.

A few days after Jounouchi woke up he was starting to get better. It would be a long while until he could have his old gusto back, of course, but he was starting to get more energy back and even Dr. Mori said he could wander around a bit more. He had to be careful, of course, since he would have to have his stomach stitches changed soon, but he was given permission to wander around – which really only meant that Mokuba got to drag him all over the house. The first day after he got permission Mokuba woke him up bright an early, like he had started doing, and sat at the foot of his bed until he finished eating the weird food Dr. Mori prescribed for him. It was always a big fight between the two of them to get him to eat it at all, a fight that usually got a few maids to the door snickering at them (and that was every day, and every meal too!). After Jounouchi finished the food Mokuba pulled him out of the bed until he finally lost the kid by going in the bathroom to change his clothes. Thanks to Honda, who had gone to Jounouchi's house to give his father a heads up, Jounouchi finally had some clothes to wear. It was a lot better than walking around half naked, especially with the current situation. The only issue was, especially at night, that his stitches sometimes bled from moving around too much. So every day a maid would come in and take his close to clean the blood off as soon as possible. And Jounouchi always watched as they took away the magical washcloth that always found its way to his head in the middle of the night somehow.

Every night, it seemed. He was sure it was either Mokuba or one of the maids doing it on Dr. Mori's order, but something was nagging him at the fact it was every night. He just shrugged it off to him not being used to being treated like that anywhere, and how he didn't expect it here of all places either. These thoughts would all roam in his head every morning as he got ready, and by the time he was finally dressed Mokuba would be knocking on the door whining about how he was taking too long. And a few seconds later Jounouchi would come out and his hand would be grabbed and he would be dragged off by the younger Kaiba brother. On that first day he was pulled throughout the whole house and was shown every room accept for Seto's. They ended their day sitting on Mokuba's floor looking at capsule monsters and playing a mini game of it, which Jounouchi was easily beaten at. He got upset, as he usually did when beaten by a Kaiba, and went on a rant about he'd do better next time but Mokuba julk;st smiled and they cleaned everything up before Jounouchi went back to his room to rest – the energy he used in his rant had tired him out. Of course they had been watched for some of their game by Kaiba, who stood in the hallway outside of the slightly ajar door and watched them interacting but he made sure neither of them noticed him.

The second and third day was more or less the same. Mokuba showed him through all the secret staff entrances that he could remember, which got them in trouble with a few of the maids that thought they were sneaking around trying to spy on them or take something. That was probably the most amusing part of the adventures besides randomly popping up in different rooms and scaring the other staff members. Eventually Mokuba even showed him his favorite secret path that took him straight into Seto's office. It opened to a hidden door behind Seto's desk, which was just barely out of his line of sight, and it let Mokuba just sit there and feel like he was with his brother even when Kaiba wanted to be alone, or needed to deal with work situations. When he found out that Jounouchi really started to feel bad for Mokuba. He didn't think it could be very much fun for the younger boy to always be in this big house with almost nothing to do other than study or bother the maids and butlers. That's why he started to plot a few things of his own.

Everyday Mokuba had to leave Jounouchi alone for a few hours in the middle of the day, just so he could go through his studies with his tutors. It was during this time that Jounouchi started to study up on those weird capsule monsters things. That way every night the two could play a game and it would be at least a little more fun for both of them. Eventually, however, the ran out of places to explore, or at least places that Jounouchi could explore with his injuries, and Mokuba started proposing other activities. "We have a video game room! Want to play one of the games in there?" he asked one day. Jounouchi grinned and nodded.

"Bring it kid!" he said as he followed Mokuba to a room down the hall from his own. Even though he had seen nearly every room in the mansion by this time he was still shocked when they walked into the game room and the lights turned on. The room was huge! It had different types of virtual reality machines inside, as well as huge televisions and even some arcade games. "…Shit you guys have a lot of stuff Moki," Jounouchi said with a grin. Mokuba started punching his arm after he heard the nickname.

"Hey I said not to call me that!" he whined which just made Jounouchi grin before ruffling his hair, which made Mokuba blush as he turned away, embarrassed.

"So what are we playing?" Mokuba looked around, wondering what games he could play. He knew that the simulations were out, because he could have gone into shock, and Mokuba wasn't into any of the controller games right then either. So that left some of the arcade games.

"I know! We can play the new D.D.R. game Seto got me!" he said with a smile as he ran over to the two machines that looked like they belonged in some hotsy totsy game place. Jounouchi grimaced.

"What the heck? Why'd he buy you something like this?"

"I asked him for it when I saw people playing it in the arcade. Come on its easy! We can play on beginner so it doesn't hurt you." Jounouchi scratched the back of his neck as he walked over to the machine. He wasn't really sure about this was going to go down, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the kid no. In reality, he was starting to feel the same way he did for his little sister, he just couldn't turn either of them down when they wanted something it seemed.

"Alright, but don't think I'm going to go easy on yah! I've got the advantage in this game."

"How?" Jounouchi climbed up on the machine and grinned as he shook his legs.

"Longer legs, duh." Mokuba pouted and narrowed his eyes, thinking over his choice for the game again.

"That's fine, because that makes us even! You have longer legs, but you're hurt so it'll make you slower!" Mokuba laughed as he started to set up the machine. Jounouchi glared at him in a joking way.

"You can't use that against me! Come on, that's not fair Moki!"

"Stop calling me that!" Mokuba said as he jumped up and down on the DDR station, making him choose the wrong settings. Jounouchi just grinned as he laughed, making Mokuba stick his tongue out at him. And that's how the day went on. Mokuba beat Jounouchi a few times, though he wasn't sure whether Jounouchi was letting him win or if he really, genuinely sucked at the game. Eventually he just figured Jounouchi sucked. And for that reason the two of them would switch which games they played every day for the rest of the week until they had tried every type of system in the room at least once, and most of them a few times. This left the two of them with nothing to do, yet again, and so Mokuba let Jounouchi figure out what to do this time. It took him a while to come up with something but one night, as they played capsule monsters again before going to bed, Jounouchi voiced his idea.

"Hey, do you play any sports?" he asked as he moved his piece across the board. Mokuba just stared at him like he was crazy.

"No, I don't get to hang out with other kids very often, so I can't play sports."

"Kaiba doesn't play with you ever?" he said in a slightly annoyed voice. It didn't make any sense to him why Kaiba didn't do stuff with his own brother but Mokuba just shook his head and looked down at the board while he thought about his next move.

"Seto doesn't have time to play any more…ever since we were adopted he hasn't had time, but it's not his fault. He…just has a lot to do, yah know?" He kept his head tilted down so his hair fell forward and his face was hidden. Jounouchi frowned and watched him.

"What about before you guys came here?"

"We use to play with the other kids in the orphanage all the time. Well, some of them. Some of them didn't like us much because Seto would always fight with everyone if they picked on me. The other kids would play kickball with us though." He said as he rubbed his eyes before smiling and looking up again. Jounouchi could see that he wasn't happy about the situation at all. With a loud clap of his hands, which had Mokuba jumping, Jounouchi leaned forward and grinned.

"Well, I have an idea for tomorrow! After you're done with your lessons we can play some kickball. You guys have a big enough yard that we could play without breaking anything for hours!" he said with a grin. Mokuba's face lit up and jumped up to his feet.

"Really?!"

"Yep! We just have to get a ball," Jounouchi said, suddenly realizing they probably didn't have anything like that. Which kind of weirded him out.

"I'll go tell Hayate to pick one up tomorrow when he brings Seto to work!" He ran out of the room to find Hayate, nearly running into Seto as he walked up the stairs, but Mokuba didn't say a thing. He was too excited. And Seto already knew why. He had turned to pretend he was walking up the stairs just so they didn't notice that he had been watching the two of them yet again from outside the room. Kaiba already knew that Jounouchi and Mokuba were getting along very well, and Seto wasn't sure how he felt about it just yet. So, after Mokuba got past him and started calling for Hayate, Seto walked up the rest of the stairs and turned toward his own room down the hall. Jounouchi caught sight of him as he passed watched him for a few moments until he heard Mokuba running back up the stairs. "Hayate said he'll go get me one when he's in town! This'll be great!"

"Yea! Awesome, now let me beat you at this game because I'm starting to get tired," Jounouchi joked as Mokuba ran back in and hugged him. He really was excited about the whole thing and Jounouchi couldn't have been happier about it. So they finished their game for the night, with Mokuba winning yet again, and then parted ways as usual. Only this time Mokuba couldn't wait to get up and go to his lessons so they had the whole day to play in the yard. Especially since the storm that had begun when Jounouchi first came over was now gone and the snow had more or less melted, leaving the lush green grass in a perfect condition to play around on.

Luckily the weather held out throughout the night and the next morning it was a beautiful, bright morning. The sun was quickly rising into the sky and it was clearly going to be a hot day out-the perfect day for a game of kickball. Instead of bringing his phone with him like he usually did, after eating and getting dressed, Jounouchi left his phone on the bedside table since he didn't want it to break while they were outside. He had to wait a little while for Mokuba to get out his lessons, which he had bumped up just so they could play outside longer. As he waited around, which really just meant he wandered around like an idiot trying to see what anyone did in this place when they were alone, he thought about what it was going to be like when he got back home. He kind of felt guilty for hanging out with Mokuba so much because he knew he wouldn't be able to do that when he left. After all, he had to go back to school himself and he would have to go back to taking care of his father – if the old drunkard didn't kill him when he finally got home.

Those thoughts were eventually interrupted by Mokuba, who ran down the hall and nearly knocked Jounouchi over with his speed when he got near him. "Watch it will yah!" he said as he caught Mokuba before he fell over. The little Kaiba just grinned and shrugged.

"Sorry! Can we go play now?" Jounouchi just rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Heh, yeah we can go play. Where's the ball?"

"Hayate left it on the porch downstairs!"

"Alright, let's go!" The two of them ran down the stairs and out the back door, onto the back porch, where they saw the bright new kickball sitting and waiting for them. Jounouchi grabbed it and ran out into the yard, Mokuba close to his heels. "I'll roll it to you and you can kick it! Just make sure to kick it away from the house, okay?"

"I'll try!" Mokuba said as he stopped and waited for Jounouchi to get a few more feet away. The two played for a while, with Mokuba usually racing Jounouchi to pick up the ball first. It wasn't really a game of kickball so much as a game of kick-the-ball-and-get-it-first-before-you're-tagge d. Either way the two of them were having fun, and that's all they really cared about.

From the downstairs office Seto watched the two of them running around and playing. It reminded him of the orphanage and the games he use to play with his little brother when he had time to do so. Part of him felt bad that it was that idiot Jounouchi out there with his brother and not himself, but he couldn't avoid it. He had too much to do and it was good for Mokuba to have someone, he supposed. He just didn't like the fact that it was Jounouchi. At least that's what he told himself but the reality of the situation was, he ended up watching Jounouchi as much, if not a bit more, than he was watching Mokuba while they were playing. When he caught this he quickly turned away and went back to his work, ignoring the two outside.

And this is how it went for about two hours before Jounouchi and Mokuba were both so tired they just laid on the ground and started staring up at the sky. One of the maids came over with drinks for the two and waited until they were done before bringing the glasses back to the house. The next time she came out they were ready to send her away, saying they didn't need anything, but instead she came with Jounouchi's friends this time. "Sir, your friends have come to visit again," she said with a bow before leaving everyone. Mokuba quickly sat up and said his hellos while it took Jounouchi a little bit longer to move around.

"Hey guys…what's up?" At first he was excited to see everyone and was even planning on getting them to play the game too, but the look on Honda's face told him something was up. "Something wrong?"

"Yea, we need to talk to you Jounouchi."

"What is it?" The group exchanged glances, wondering if they should ask Mokuba to leave. They figured he wouldn't care anyway so they went on with their explanation.

"You're father's getting pretty bad. He wasn't happy when I warned him but it's been a week and I think he's snapped. He's shown up at all of our houses, throwing fits and just making all of our parents feel uncomfortable."

"Honestly, Jounouchi, if he wasn't your dad we probably would have called the cops on him," Anzu added in with a frown. Jounouchi just stared at all of them. He never thought his dad would do anything to them. He just expected him to fester until he got home.

"What did he do?" They were all silent for a moment before Honda, who sighed, explained in more details.

"Well, when he was at my house no one was at home at first. He knocked down a few of my mother's fixtures in the yard and left broken beer bottles on our porch, which we're pretty sure he was throwing at the windows. When we showed up he ran toward the car and we had to leave the house until he went home."

"When he came to my house my mom was outside. He came up to her and started yelling about how he wanted you to come home and that he knew you were at my place and started calling me all these things apparently," Anzu added. Then Yuugi looked up, his head having been tilted down the whole time, and Jounouchi saw the bruise on his left eye, making his own eyes widen.

"He was bothering Grandpa when I got home… I tried to talk to him but he just got upset and swung at me. Afterwards he eventually left and Honda and Anzu came over to make sure he didn't come back." Yuugi's voice was quiet as he looked down again, but it was Jounouchi's face that everyone was really focused on. He went from looking shocked to angry to downright pissed off.

"I'll fix this. I'm sorry guys," he said as he pushed himself up and started back toward the mansion. Mokuba jumped up and ran after him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going home," Jounouchi said in a cold tone that had Mokuba stopping in his tracks.

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**Guys...Guys...GUYS the feels that I have for poor Mokuba...**

**/3**

**Reviews are love for me and Mokuba!**


	7. Collection Time

**Guys, omg this is a long chapter but it's worth it to read! I promise!**

**WARNING: There are so many feels in this chapter guys. So many feels.**

**I own nothing but the feels. The feels are mine to share.**

**NOTE: *make-inu is Kaiba's japanese nickname for Joey (Jounouchi) which means pathetic dog.**

**EDIT: I updated this because I was apparently half asleep last night and made a BUNCH of mistakes! It's fixed though, and I added some new stuff here and there so enjoy!**

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"Wait! Jounouchi, you can't leave!" Mokuba yelled as he ran after Jounouchi, trying to stop him long enough to convince him to stay instead of rushing off into what sounded like a dangerous situation. When he grabbed the taller male's arm he was just shrugged off, like he usually was when he tried the same thing with his brother, but that didn't stop him. "You aren't healthy enough to go back! Please stay, just a little longer!" he pleaded as he grabbed Jounouchi's arm again and locked himself around it with a tight hug-like grip. The blond didn't shrug him off this time but instead knelt down so he was looking Mokuba in the face and, for a moment, it reminded Mokuba of the way Seto spoke to him when something serious was going on. The child let go and took a step back so he could look at Jounouchi as he spoke, but Mokuba couldn't help how his eyes watered. He didn't want to loose his new friend because of_ them_.

"I'm sorry Moki, but I have to. I can't just let him hurt everyone right? Don't worry, I'll come back and play again sometime, if Kaiba lets me." He stood up and ruffled Mokuba's hair before walking past him and going up the stairs. This time Mokuba just watched him walk away before turning in the opposite direction. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes again when he saw Yuugi and the others somberly walking into the house.

"This is your fault!" he yelled as he pointed at the group. "Because of you Jounouchi's going to leave and he's still hurt! If something happens it's your fault!" he added before running past them and toward the downstairs office where he knew Seto would be, if he was home. In his wake he left a very concerned group. The three teenagers looked at one another before each of them sighed.

"He's right, except we all know something is going to happen when he gets back," Honda said in a somber tone. Anzu let her head hang.

"What can we do? We can't let his father keep this up. Yuugi's lucky he didn't end up in worse shape."

"I'm fine, really. It wasn't that big a deal…maybe we shouldn't have told Jounouchi…."

"No, he needed to know…I just wish there was a way he didn't have to go back home. At least not yet." Honda sighed and led the other two toward the front of the building where they planned on waiting for Jounouchi so the four could go back together. Yuugi kept looking back in the direction that Mokuba had run, however, and frowned.

"Isn't there some way we can deal with this ourselves?" he asked again, wondering if they could just let Jounouchi stay and heal a bit longer, at least for Mokuba's sake.

"Yuugi…I get why you're worried but he has to stop his father. If we took care of it we'd have to call the police and then what would Jounouchi do? If we did that and he went home things would just get worse. But don't worry, we'll stay with him. We're his friends after all, so we won't let anything bad happen," Anzu tried to say in an encouraging way. The words didn't work on Yuugi, however, and his head sunk again. He already let Jounouchi down once, what was stopping him from doing it again? He wasn't the only one thinking that either. Mokuba, who ran to Seto's office, had the same idea when he bursted through his brother's door and stood there panting from the run. Seto glanced up to see who was intruding on his business call but once he noticed how upset his little brother was he told the person on the phone they would have to do this another time. Before the person could argue he hung up and put the phone back on the receiver.

"What happened," he asked in his normal tone. Mokuba ran around his desk and stood there, his fists balled and his head tilted down. Kaiba just watched him, waiting for him to explain himself. Honestly, he wasn't use to seeing his little brother like this and was mildly curious about what could have upset him so much. If he had known that the geek squad would be stupid enough to talk about something like that in front of him he probably wouldn't have let them come over in the first place.

"Yuugi and the others came over again, and they told Jounouchi all this stuff about his dad and now he's packing up his stuff and wants to leave! You've got to stop him Seto, he won't listen to me!" Kaiba frowned slightly, not his normal frown but one that actually may have held some sort of sadness. The reason behind it wasn't clear, but Mokuba didn't even pay attention to it. He just stared down at his feet and tried to calm down.

"If he wants to leave he can, we can't keep him here and he shouldn't be here in the first place," Seto finally said. He wasn't being cold, though his words made it sound as if he were. In fact his tone was soft but stern. Mokuba had to understand that Jounouchi should never have been there in the first place.

"Why not?! You brought him here without explaining it to anyone so why doesn't he belong here! It's not like I brought him here or someone else did, it was you! You stopped, you helped him, whether you want to talk about it or not you did it and now he's leaving and he could get hurt again or worse and you don't care?!" He closed the gap between him and Kaiba and started beating his brother's chest with his fists as he hid his face against him and did his best not to cry. He was so upset though, that he had to sob back the tears. "It's not fair, Seto…it's just not fair. ...I finally had someone to play with…." He whispered as he finally stopped trying to beat the sense into his brother and just leaned into him instead. Kaiba placed a hand on his back, to relax him and also to get his attention before he got upset again. The last few words stung but Seto knew it was true. He just didn't have time like he use to and Mokuba did need someone to entertain him. He wasn't like Seto where he could get entertainment from his studies and games alone. And as much as Kaiba believed that everyone was alone in the world, he did realize it wasn't fair to raise Mokuba like that. Even if he would, eventually, find out that it was true.

"…I'll take care of it," he finally said after a few moments of thought. The younger brother looked up, his eyes moist and wide.

"R-Really?"

"Yes, but it's up to him in the end, Mokuba. If he doesn't want to come back then I'm not dragging the idiot back here." Mokuba smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Okay big brother! But, if he gets hurt, he'll come back right? Dr. Mori's his doctor too now, right?"

"I suppose," he mentioned after a moment's pause. Mokuba smiled and wiped his eyes, clearing away any remaining tears from his face. Seto ruffled his hair slightly as he stood up and Mokuba's smile widened a bit as he watched him collect his things into his normal metal briefcase, which still seemed to have a few drops of dried blood around one of the corners. "Go get your ball from the back. If it snows again we might never find it," he mentioned as he held the door open for Mokuba. The younger brother looked at him for a moment, surprised that he knew the ball was still out there, but just nodded.

"Okay!" he ran out of the room and into the backyard. While he got the ball Kaiba started through the mansion, eventually running into Hayate and told him to get a second car ready to go. The bodyguard left to do as he was told and, in the meantime, Seto stood in the living room and watched the other three outside, wondering just what was going to happen. The only reason he was doing this was for Mokuba but he wasn't sure what he was going to have to deal with. This was one of many reasons he didn't like dealing with other people or gaining so-called friends. They were nothing but issues. They couldn't be trusted anyway and on top of that they just caused trouble. It was easier to live without them.

As his thoughts mulled over the depressing nature of his mindset Hayate returned and told him that the second car was waiting and that he was prepared to drive him wherever he needed to go. "No," Kaiba said bluntly. "I'll be driving myself." Hayate stared for a moment before nodding and going back to his duties. It was during this conversation that Jounouchi finally got out of the mansion with a bag, likely from one of the maids who had taken a liking to him, with all of his things on his shoulder. When he got outside the others gave him sad smiles and tried to cheer him up.

"Don't worry, we'll be there to help you," Anzu said softly as the three circled around Jounouchi. Yuugi looked up at him, one eye open and the other one lazily closed because of the bruise.

"At least you're coming home right?" he said, trying to make it sound better. He didn't really believe Honda that Jounouchi liked Kaiba. Instead he figured this had to be awkward and annoying for Jounouchi, being stuck in Kaiba's house that is. Whether or not his friend was gay he didn't care, but the idea of him wanting to be anything more than enemies-frienemies at most- with Kaiba was just too far fetched for Yuugi to believe.

"Yea, I guess. At least I'll be with you guys," he said with a shrug. At that moment Kaiba walked out of the mansion and stood behind the group with keys in one hand and his briefcase in the other.

"Wrong, make-inu*. You're not going back with them." The four turned to look at Kaiba who had what could only be described as a bored look on his face. Jounouchi, already in a bad mood before hearing the damn dog-themed nickname, balled his fist and raised it in Kaiba's general direction.

"Listen richboy, I'm getting real tired of your attitude!" he argued despite barely having spoke with Kaiba since waking up a week earlier.

"Shut up you idiot and come on," Kaiba said coldly as he walked over to a red car that had been pulled up to the front of the building while the others were waiting – they thought it was for some other reason like a business meeting or something when it had happened. Everyone just stared at him as he opened the car door and put his briefcase in the back seat before turning around and crossing his arms. Jounouchi's fist started waving around again as if he were going to argue, mainly because he just didn't understand what was going on, but the movement made him buckle over as he pulled at a few of his stitches. The others grabbed him, worry clear on their faces.

"Jounouchi!" Anzu and Yuugi gasped as they caught him before his pain sent him to his knees. Kaiba took a step closer and his shadow fell over Jounouchi, who looked up with a one eyed glare, the other closed tightly from the pain.

"Get up. If you can't even standalone how are you going to face anyone with the nerd herd as your backup?" They all just stared at Kaiba, surprised that he seemed to know what was going on and angry at the way he spoke to Jounouchi.

"What's with you, Kaiba? Leave him alone already!" Anzu yelled but Jounouchi shook his head and pushed her and Yuugi away. As they moved he fell to his knees on the ground but not for long. A moment later he slowly pushed himself up and, with a few winces, stood there on his own. Kaiba was right; he couldn't rely on these guys to help him out, not this time. They'd get hurt and it was his father after all, he needed to do this on his own.

"Good, now get in the car," Kaiba said as he held the keys up in his hand and pressed a button on the controls which opened the passenger's door. Jounouchi stared at him for a moment, wary about what was going on.

"Why? What's going on here Kaiba?" Seto tilt his head slightly and just seemed bored, if not annoyed by the conversation. It was as if he expected Jounouchi to already have figured it out.

"The other car only holds four and a driver, not five," he started with while the group silently began to count in their heads, trying to figure out what he was saying. "And if you don't want those losers getting in the middle of this then it's faster to go on your own."

"Five?" he was still held up on that number and Seto closed his eyes, sighing. Yuugi, however, answered for him.

"Why are you going, Kaiba?" he asked in his small voice. Kaiba glanced at him for a moment before turning to the car and walking back towards it.

"Mokuba," was all he said in response before he got behind the driver's seat and closed his door, waiting for Jounouchi. But when they saw Kaiba sit in the driver's seat Jounouchi almost jumped and the others reacted in similar ways.

"You're driving?!" he yelled, his eyes wide with fear for once. "Do you even know how to drive?!" he argued. It was clear that Kaiba didn't hear him, or was ignoring him, so he walked over to the opened passenger's seat to say it again. "Hey, do you even know how to drive?" The others just watched.

"Just get in the car Jounouchi," he said with an annoyed tone. Jounouchi narrowed his eyes for a moment but when, after he was taking too long, Kaiba glanced toward him he felt his chest tighten. He realized Kaiba just called him by his name, and didn't even add some weird insult to it! This eventually got him to sigh and throw his bag in the back seat before getting ready to climb in. It didn't stop his fear of Kaiba's driving, however, so before he sat in the car he called over to his friends.

"If I die sue this guy for me!" he yelled before getting in the car and closing the door. He made sure to put on the seat-belt, which was a first for him. The others just watched as Kaiba turned on the car and, within moments, they were speeding away far faster than they probably should have been. Anzu looked annoyed, and worried, while Yuugi just looked confused. Honda, on the other hand, was amused. He was perfectly fine with suing Kaiba if Jounouchi died because of his driving, but he was sure that would be the last thing to happen. Something else was amusing him also but he wasn't going to mention it just yet.

"Come on guys, we'll have to trust Kaiba again. He's got to have some reason for taking Jono himself."

"I guess…but I doubt it's what you think, Honda," Anzu said with a roll of her eyes as the three walked to the black car where Shun was waiting to drive them all home. They each got in the car after taking a moment to look down the road where Seto and Jounouchi were speeding off. They were all worried for one reason or another but Honda was right, they'd have to trust Kaiba.

Jounouchi, on the other hand, wasn't exactly sure about trusting Kaiba. "I knew it! You can't drive for shit," he yelled as he held onto the handle of the door and the seat-belt wrapped around him. Kaiba just watched the road in front of them and kept driving at the same speed he started with – which was well over the speed limit and he knew it. He just didn't like going slow when he was driving; mainly because when he was driving he felt the need to get whatever he was doing done as soon as possible. And this was something he wanted done fast. "Will you slow down?!" Jounouchi begged in a slightly higher pitched voice than normal. He seriously felt like he was going to die in this car. Kaiba rolled his eyes slightly and glanced over at Jounouchi for a moment. He saw the position the other male was in and gradually began to slow down to a normal speed for the road they were going on. As he did the tension in Jounouchi's body slowly released and he was able to sit comfortably in the seat, though he still gripped the handle of the door for some sense of security. While Jounouchi just took the moment to take a few deep breaths and relax, Kaiba glanced at him again to see if he changed the dangerous position he had been in. The only reason he slowed down, after all, was to stop Jounouchi from popping any of his stitches.

After that the two of them drove in silence as they waited to enter Domino City and to find Jounouchi's house. That was when Jounouchi suddenly turned in his seat and gave Kaiba a peculiar look. "Do you know where we're going?" His eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Kaiba, trying to read him. If he knew where they were going then he was a creep, obviously, and that meant he must have looked into his information which meant Jounouchi was going to avoid him as much as he could after getting out of this care. If not, however, then Kaiba was just caught in a moment of erratic behavior and Jounouchi wasn't letting him get away with it without making a scene. Kaiba knew that too and, while he didn't know where Jounouchi's house was, he refused to say anything just yet. His silence, however, gave the same answer as saying he didn't know would have. Jounouchi just pointed at him and started laughing in a triumphant way.

"Hah! You don't know! The great Kaiba has finally slipped up! Trying to drive into action and he doesn't even know where to go!" He started to snicker as he leaned against the door and ignored Kaiba's side glare. Oh but this wasn't the end. "How's it feel, richboy, being brought down to the level of not knowing stuff like one of us normal people?" he said between fits of gleeful giggles. Kaiba didn't look at him as they finally slipped onto the highway that brought them to Domino City and he had to slow down to an average crawl. The longer he stayed silent, however, the funnier it got for Jounouchi. "This is great! You've got to be embarrassed huh? Hah! Caught being dumb and rushing into something by me! HAH!"

"Shut it make-inu*," he said coldly as they entered Domino City with only Jounouchi's muffled giggles to break the otherwise thickening silence. It was in this silence that got the blond thinking over what he had just said. If Kaiba had rushed into helping him out like he just implied, which he didn't deny, then why? Oh wait, he remembered now, it was because of Mokuba. Weird thing to do for a kid but he understood. He would do some weird things for his sister too if he had to. So he stopped laughing at Kaiba and instead started to point in the direction they had to go. Leaning forward in the car so he was slightly on Kaiba's side, he would point one way or another and explain the fastest route. If Seto disliked the action he didn't say anything about it and instead just listened and followed what Jounouchi said. Once they were on the right track it didn't take more than another ten minutes or so to get to the apartment complex that Jounouchi and his father lived in. Kaiba parked the car and Jounouchi hopped out as quickly as he could and bowed to the ground sarcastically.

"I survived!" he said jokingly before grinning in Kaiba's direction. "So, uh, you know how to get out of here right?" he teased as he walked around the car and started toward the door. He was walking a lot slower than he should have been, however, and even Kaiba could notice it. The series of outbursts must have been getting to him. Without answering, at first, Seto got out of the car and took his briefcase from the back seat before walking up behind Jounouchi.

"You aren't getting away so easily yet," he said in his normal cold tone, which made Jounouchi jump and turn around to face him.

"W-what?" he asked, slightly confused and slightly freaked out. Between what he said and the fact that Kaiba was following him Jounouchi didn't know what to say or do.

"I told Mokuba you'd be fine, I don't intent to go back a liar," he said bluntly, which pushed the other thoughts from Jounouchi's mind rather quickly. And, although he wanted to argue with Kaiba about going up, he had to admit he didn't want Mokuba to be as upset as he looked earlier nor did he want to go upstairs and face goodness knows what alone, so he just nodded and opened the door. The two made their way up the stairs in silence until they were on the fourth floor. Jounouchi showed him to his apartment and, for some reason, felt odd about the thought. After all he had just basically lived at Kaiba's house for a week and now he was showing Kaiba where he lived? It was…weird. Not to mention Kaiba was the last person he ever wanted to see where and how he lived for multiple reasons. It couldn't be avoided, however, and when they got to the door Jounouchi quickly unlocked it.

He opened the door just barely and, as usual, he heard the sound of a beer bottle hitting the door and shattering. "You little p-piece of shit! Is tha-that you? I'll bea-beat you're a-ass!" the drunken man inside slurred between hiccups. Jounouchi's face grew dark as he stood with his head against the door, waiting to see if he was going to throw any more bottles. When he didn't he slowly opened the door, his arm going out to motion for Kaiba to back up in case something else went flying. For the time being Kaiba just remained silent and followed Jounouchi, though it was clear he was already disgusted by the place form the look on his face. His eyes, however, shined a dangerous shade of blue as if he knew how this scene would play out already – as if he had already lived through something similar. And he had.

"You better not throw anything else you jackass!" Jounouchi said as he slowly walked into the house. After a moment, with nothing thrown and no reply, Kaiba followed him in and looked around. It was rather disgusting inside and it was obvious that Jounouchi's father didn't take care of this place while his son was gone. "Dad, where are you?" Jounouchi asked as he looked into the living room and didn't see him in his normal seat. Not that anyone could sit there since it was piled high with dripping beer bottles. Hell, Jounouchi and Seto both had to cover their noses with their hands at one point as the stench of alcohol became too strong for them to handle. It was obvious that the man had just been there, however, so he had to be somewhere. That was when they heard something moving around in the small kitchen and then the skidding sound of a chair being pulled against the cold tiles. Jounouchi, now barely paying attention to Kaiba's presence, he was far too focused on finding his father and avoiding beer bottles. So long as Kaiba stayed behind him he wouldn't be too worried about it.

Jounouchi rounded the corner and peeked into the kitchen only to stand their wide eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Kaiba stared at his stupidity before glancing at something hanging over the sink that had a reflective surface, where he could see multiple human shapes reflexed from the room. For now he held back, knowing that he'd be more effective to help if they didn't know he was there.

"Ah, Jounouchi, just the man we were waiting for," one of the tall men who stood behind Jounouchi's father – who was sitting at the table between the men and Jounouchi – said in a cold yet amused tone. Jounouchi just grimaced and the other male laughed.

"What do you two want? I sent the last payment in on time!"

"Yes but it wasn't enough. You see, our interest has gone up again and we're afraid you owe us 50,000 more yen." Jounouchi's eyes widened.

"50,000…I couldn't afford that normally, especially not on top of what I'm already paying! You've got to be kidding me!"

"We're afraid it's no joke, Jounouchi," the other man said in his raspy voice that made even Kaiba grimace. All of this was more or less just getting annoying. Kaiba knew about Jounouchi's father and his issues because of the geek squad yelling at him when they first found out he was at the Kaiba mansion, but he didn't know the extent of this. And it was clear that someone like Jounouchi was barely making it as it was so whatever was going on in that kitchen he was sure it was about to get ugly "If you don't have the money we'll have to give you a warning and then we'll just come back tomorrow for it. Or the day after, or the day after, until you do have the money and if you don't…well then, you and pops won't be living as comfortably as you currently are."

Jounouchi's hands balled into fists again as he stared at the men and slowly slipped into a fighting stance. Now he knew why his father was harassing everyone, the collectors must have been going after him since Jounouchi disappeared. "Don't even try it kid," the first man said. "We know you've been missing because of some injury. Let's see if you can stay standing long enough to take a proper beating!" The two men pushed Jounouchi's father to the ground, by pulling the chair back from under him. The drunken man fell on the floor with a thud and a groan as he rolled onto his fat side and tried to pull himself up before giving up and hiding. The men didn't care about him now, however, and were lunging at Jounouchi, who completely forgot about Kaiba by this time. Just because he was hurt didn't mean he was going to let them get away with treating his father like this, or him.

The first man came over and aimed a punch for Jounouchi's face but was answered, first, by a kick to the gut from the blond. While this happened, however, the other man came in with a punch of his own and nailed Jounouchi right in the side, near his stitches, making him buckle over and fall against the wall. It was clear to see blood begin to slowly slip into the white fabric of his white and blue shirt as he laid on the ground and atop a few freshly broken bottles. He didn't care however, and started pushing himself up. The guy who landed the punch moved again to kick him this time but he was stopped by a blow to the chest from Kaiba's briefcase, sending him backwards and onto the small kitchen table, which somehow stayed standing. The other guy came up behind Kaiba and aimed a kick of his own toward his side, which sent Kaiba back until he hit the wall a few feet away. He pushed himself up and met another kick from the same man with his briefcase, making the man hobble back while also knocking the briefcase out of Seto's hand. It slid across the floor, landing a few feet from Jounouchi on the other side of the room. Jounouchi, who was catching his breath on the ground and spitting up a bit of blood, due to a shard of glass having cut into his cheek and the blood dripping down, into his mouth, was trying to pick himself up to help Kaiba fight.

"Stay down, idiot," Kaiba said as he aimed a quick punch to the first man's face, sending him back a few steps before Kaiba followed with left hook to the side of the man's face, sending him spinning to the side and eventually knocking his head on the hard counter top by the sink which left him to slope down to the ground in a crumbled pile. Jounouchi just watched, while holding his side, unable to believe the sight before him. Kaiba was breathing heavily, his side likely bruised from that earlier kick, as he waited for the other, obviously larger man to swing again. The other man, however, was slowly standing back up and reaching into his coat for something that both Jounouchi and Kaiba had a bad feeling about. That was when Jounouchi noticed Kaiba's briefcase wasn't far from him and he slowly, and as quietly as he could, began to crawl over to the item. Just as he grabbed the handle the glint of a silver gun being pulled from the coat was visible.

"Kaiba!" Jounouchi yelled as he threw the briefcase over to him, which was surprisingly heavy. Kaiba glanced to the side reluctantly but just in time to catch the briefcase as the man held up the gun to Kaiba's face.

"Don't' try it," the man said in his raspy voice. "My comrade may be down but I'm strong enough to take both of you with this." He waved the gun in a dangerous way as if to signify this made him stronger. It just made Kaiba glare at him far worse than he had yet done. "So long as I have this both of you punks better just do as I say."

"Are you done?" Kaiba said in an annoyed tone that even made the man in front of him question the guy's sanity. "What a weakling, hiding behind a gun."

"What? You brat I'll show you-"

"If you even try it you won't get any of your money," Kaiba said defiantly which confused both the man and Jounouchi who was still sitting on the ground, afraid to move in case it made the man shoot.

"What the hell are you talking about kid?"

"The payment for the full bill is here already. If you shoot you won't be seeing any of it," he added coolly. The larger man, taken back by the offer, froze for a moment. Jounouchi just looked like a fish in the corner gasping for breath with how wide his mouth laid open. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

"Fine kid, we do a clean business so long as we get paid on time," the raspy man said as he put the gun back into the holster under his coat and smiled in a fake and friendly way. "Hand over the money."

Kaiba put the briefcase on the table and looked over at the man. "How much is it?"

"With our new interest, it'll be 70,000,000 yen." Jounouchi slipped on the floor, his hand rolling off a bottle.

"W-what?! That's not even close to what I owed you! I was almost paid off!" he said as he leaned forward. Kaiba glanced toward him, shutting the blond up with the intense stare.

"Is that all?" Kaiba boredly noted as he opened the briefcase, showing stacks of money, and pulled out just one measly stack and ran his fingers over the wad. He counted it in his head and handed it to the man. "There, now get out." The man took the money greedily and looked it over himself. But he had seen the rest of the money Kaiba had on him and was more than prepared to take it with him as punishment for this little stunt. He put the cash away in his pocket while Kaiba closed and locked his briefcase. As the man pulled his hand from his pocket he pulled out his gun as well but before he could even cock it Kaiba knocked it out of his hand with the briefcase and then turned, his other hand already in a fist, and punched the side of the man's skull. It was a hard impact that had Kaiba quietly wincing but it was enough that the larger man was a bit disoriented and wasn't about to fight coherently for a while. "I said get out, and take him with you." The man, with his gun casted away, slowly moved to pick up his unconscious friend and moved past Kaiba with a leery eye toward that briefcase.

"We're even, for now, Jounouchi!" he said sourly before leaving the apartment all together. Once Kaiba knew he was gone he bent down and picked up the gun before unloading it and putting it and the bullets in the trash. Before turning around he had to inspect his hand, which was painfully numb, and saw that a bruise was already beginning to form over his knuckles. Eventually he turned around, hiding that hand at his side, and offered the other hand to the bewildered Jounouchi.

"Uh…." He just took the hand offered and Kaiba helped him up, though the blond nearly fell into him when too much weight was put on the now re-injured side of his body. Once he was steady Kaiba looked around, trying to find the drunkard they had come here for in the first place. "H-hey is it really done…my dad's not in debt anymore?" He asked as he leaned against the wall. Kaiba glanced over his shoulder, his eyes cold but amused.

"He's not, but you are."

"Wait, what?!" he cringed at the sudden burst of energy and nearly fell back to the ground. He held himself up, however, by leaning on the counter. Kaiba, who had moved to catch him, quickly changed his position back to standing a few steps away before Jounouchi could notice.

"You think I'm going to pay that for you with nothing in return?" Jounouchi just stared at him. Sure it was kind of stupid of Jounouchi to think that would have been free, but the real thing haunting him now was the fact he was sure it would be worse being in debt with Kaiba than anyone else. His thoughts were broken when they noticed something shifting under the table and saw that it was the semi-conscious form of his father. It took both Jounouchi and Kaiba to get the large man up and in a seat again, and as soon as he was steady the drunkard started wiggling out of their grasps.

"Let go-uh me you faggots!" he yelled in a permanent slur. Kaiba didn't pay any attention to him at first but when Jounouchi's reaction changed from worry for his father to obvious embarrassment and anger he began to.

"Shut up you asshole! I told you not to call me that!"

"I dun't care, ge-get the fu-fuck out of my house!" Jounouchi grabbed his father's shoulders and shook him, trying to keep him conscious.

"You have to leave everyone alone you idiot, and you won't do that if I'm gone!" It was far more painful for Jounouchi to shake his father than anything else so he quickly stopped and went back to holding his bleeding side. Kaiba was about to say something when the drunkard spoke again.

"I dun't need no faggots in my house. Tak-take your fairy b-boyfriend a-and get out," he said in an angry tone as he started picking up beer bottles and tried to drink the few drops that were left inside of them. Jounouchi just stared at him.

"You heard him, let's go," Kaiba said in a sour tone, not exactly appreciating how he was addressed.

"Wha-what? But I can't just-"

"I'll send one of the butlers over to clean the place up later, you need to see Mori." Kaiba said as he grabbed his briefcase and began to walk out of the room. Jounouchi just stared at him and Kaiba glanced over his shoulder, "Remember, you owe me now, so move it make-inu*." With that Kaiba grinned to himself and left the room and eventually the apartment. Part of him left because he couldn't take the stench, the other part of him left because he needed to make sure the greedy idiot wasn't lurking around to jump them. Everything seemed clear and, after a few minutes, Jounouchi finally came back out with a towel under his shirt and his bag filled with more of his clothes. He figured he wasn't coming back for a while and, after everything Kaiba just did, he wasn't about to argue with him.

"Are you serious?" he finally asked as he closed and locked the door to the apartment. Kaiba was already walking down the hall.

"About what?" he asked, his voice back to its bored tone.

"…Sending someone to take care of him?"

"I said they'd take care of the apartment, not him."

"What? But they'll come back for him! I can't just leave him!" Kaiba turned around, a dangerous grin on his lips. He was going to enjoy this new debt Jounouchi was in.

"Alright, I'll send someone to watch him if you beg."

"…What?" Jounouchi's face lit up and his head felt woozy from the movement of his blood and the loss of some already. Kaiba's grin just continued.

"Beg like the dog you are and I'll leave someone here to watch him."

"U-uh…but…ho-how?" he started, confused on how he could even beg like a dog. He really didn't know what to do. Kaiba noticed his skin flush and realized this wasn't helping the kid keep consciousness, but all he could do was laugh. "S-shut up Kaiba!"

"Later, you'll beg. For now let's go," he said calmly as he led the way out of the poverty stricken apartment complex and back to his car. He took Jounouchi's bag and threw it in the back of the car with his own briefcase and waited until Jounouchi made it in, and kept the towel around the blood stained shirt, before getting in himself. He didn't need directions this time, which was good because Jounouchi's head was still spinning. Eventually Jounouchi seemed to loose conciousness again, or fell asleep because of feeling so light headed, and Kaiba stopped the car on the side of the road to check that he wasn't loosing too much more blood. It took a few skillful minutes to move Jounouchi's hands and shirt up enough so he could see the enflamed stiches on his stomach. The end of a few of the stitches were obviously ripped and were still bleeding and, in one or two cases, oozing. Kaiba put the towel back on the wounds and moved Jounouchi's body slightly so he was laying against the car door in a way that let the towel stay there via gravity instead of pressure. Before he started the car again Kaiba called ahead and had Dr. Mori already waiting to stitch Jounouchi back up, which she automatically assumed was Kaiba's fault. And when they pulled back into the driveway of the mansion it was like the night Jounouchi first showed up, only this time Mokuba was happy to see him back, even in such a bad state. Kaiba gave Jounouchi's things to a maid and had her set the same spare room back up for when he was released from Dr. Mori's care. He, himself, went to put his briefcase away as if nothing had happened at all, though he made sure to keep his injured hand from anyone's view. Now he just needed to catch up on the paperwork he ignored during the little rendezvous.

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**Those feels guys.**

**Just so you all know, Kaiba just paid like...$710,731 for Jounouchi's father's debt.**

**Like, the feels. I can't take it. This chapter, it hurts and then it heals and then it hurts again. I hope you guys felt it too!**

**Reviews = Love, and you know you love it **


	8. Don't mess with her!

**Hey there people.**

**Shit is starting to happen guys!**

**I hope you all like this chapter, I had a lot of fun putting in some funny shit :D**

**I own nothing but the words and, I defo own Dr. Mori. She's my bitch ;D**

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After Hayate brought Jounouchi into the house from Seto's car he was left in Dr. Mori's care and she wasn't letting Mokuba watch as she took out his stitches and reapplied them. She told the young boy that he wouldn't be back in his room for a few hours, and even then he wasn't going to be awake just like that. The stitches that he popped, it seemed, were both for his skin and some for his stomach. He was probably in a lot more pain than he appeared to be on the outside. Hearing that, Mokuba wonder exactly what had happened when his brother and Jounouchi went into Domino City. The only way to find out was to ask the only conscious person from the adventure and it was for this reason that Mokuba found himself in front of his brother's downstairs office. He wasn't sure if his brother would be in there but if he was he was sure he was bound to be busy so instead of just walking in like he did earlier he took the moment to knock. He expected there to be a long pause before Seto gave him the clear to walk in, or for nothing to happen in case he wasn't even in there. What he didn't expect was for the door to open a few seconds later, revealing Seto without his signature coat on and with his head turned away while he seemed to check on something somewhere else in the room. After a moment's pause he looked down at Mokuba and stepped aside for him to come in. Mokuba noticed he was acting kind of strange, especially in the way he was moving. Instead of his normal, _I'm better than everyone_, walk that Mokuba was used to seeing; Seto was slower and slightly hunched against one side as if the other side was in pain. At the same time he was walking with one hand behind his back, which didn't look comfortable at all.

Mokuba climbed up into one of the chairs facing Seto's desk and waited for his big brother to sit down behind his desk before he started questioning him. So far neither had said a word, but Mokuba couldn't think of what to say. He had instantly become preoccupied with how odd Seto was asking that he didn't know what to do. It wasn't until his brother sat down that Mokuba finally realized he looked sick on top of all of that. His flesh was flushed and he had beads of sweat slowly crawling down his forehead as if he had a fever. Mokuba jumped up as soon as he saw it. "Seto, what's wrong?!" The volume of his little brother's voice made Kaiba wince as he leaned back against his chair and sighed a hallow breath.

"Quiet down, Mokuba," he grumbled. The last thing he needed was for a certain staff member to be alerted.

"B-but, what's wrong with you?" he said, this time not quite as loud though still in a panicked tone. He wasn't use to his brother looking or being sick, and he had been fine earlier. Then he realized something. "What happened while you were one?" he asked, worried even more than before.

"Nothing, Mokuba. Did you need something," he said slowly, trying not to pause or wince. It was becoming increasingly hard to breathe so he had to take small, short breaths. Mokuba noticed that pretty quickly.

"I'm going to go get Dr. Mori!" he said as he jumped up.

"Mokuba, don't bother her!" he called after him but he wasn't letting Seto wiggle out of this. And Dr. Mori said she had to clean Jounouchi's wound first so maybe she hadn't opened it yet. Mokuba dashed upstairs and went straight to the room on the second floor, right in front of the stairs, where Dr. Mori had her set up prepared. He knocked on the door rather roughly and it took a moment before a maid, who Dr. Mori had trained to work as a nurse for her, opened the door.

"What is it, Master Mokuba?" she asked with concern but Mokuba just ran past her.

"Dr. Mori you have to check on Seto, something's wrong with him!" Mokuba said in a rush as he stopped behind her. She, with her mask on and gloves, was leaning over Jounouchi's unconscious form. Luckily they had yet to open up the wound again and were only in the process of cleaning the area around the wound for the time being so she was able to hand off her equipment to her nurse before turning around and looking down at Mokuba with her hands on her hips.

"You realize if we were in the middle of fixing his stiches you could have endangered the process by barging in here? You need to think before you do something Mokuba!"

"But, it's Seto!" Mokuba said with a frown as he jumped up, trying to make her understand. She just sighed and took off her gloves and then her mask, throwing them away in a waste bin. After fixing a stray piece of red hair she sat down on a stool and motioned for Mokuba to come over.

"Alright, tell me what's going on and I'll go check on him, but we've got to be quick or you're friend here isn't going to be very happy when that anesthetic wears off, okay?" Mokuba nodded and quickly explained everything he saw when he went downstairs to figure out what had happened while they were gone. When he was done with his story Dr. Mori frowned and shook her head. Mokuba just watched her, wondering what was wrong, before he jumped back as she stood up from her seat suddenly. She balled her hand into a fist and almost seemed to shake with sudden rage. "I'm going to teach that kid once and for all to stop being an idiot!" she yelled before storming out of the room and heading right for Seto's office. Mokuba didn't have time to laugh at the way Dr. Mori always was when Seto got hurt so instead he quickly followed her downstairs. She didn't seem to have one fear in the world as she briskly walked into his office, unannounced, and stood in front of his desk with her hands on her hips.

Seto was sitting back in his chair, one hand on his desk and the other one in his lap but to the side enough that it wasn't exactly visible. He watched her as she came in and the closer she got to his desk the more he grimaced. He knew fully well what was about to happen. "You idiotic, self-centered, pompous little kid! How many times do I have to tell you to stop being so dumb before you understand? I swear one of these days I'm going to let you wallow in your pain and I won't do a damn thing for you, you hear me kid?" She glared at him, her hands tightly on her hips still as she leaned forward. Kaiba met her glare full on with his own but it wavered as his head ached and he had to close his eyes.

"Shut up you old hag," he said in an attempt to keep his wits in their argument but even she could see he didn't have it in him at the moment. Sighing, she just walked around the desk and shook his head. Mokuba, by this time, was just standing in the doorway watching the way the two acted. They were always like this. Seto would get sick or hurt and try to hide it, even when he was little, and Dr. Mori would find out and go on a rant about how stupid he was acting and then he'd yell back at her and in the end they'd be fine. It really was kind of weird, but Mokuba guessed that's why she was still their doctor even after their adopted father died and the rest of the staff was switched out.

"What's wrong with you this time, kid," she said coldly to Seto as she leaned against his desk and looked down at him. He was stubborn though and wouldn't tell her a thing.

"Nothing, go back to your patient."

"You are my patient you dumbass, now what's going on. From what Mokuba described you have something wrong with your left hand and your right side." She leaned in to grab his arm so she could take a look but he shrugged her off. The sudden movement made him flinch painfully, however, because he shifted too quickly on his side. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You are injured! I swear, between you and the blond I'm going to need a vacation soon! Let me see or so help me I'll hit you right where it hurts on that side and subdue you myself!" she threatened as she stood up and held her fist up again. Mokuba winced at the thought of their doctor beating up Seto, but it wouldn't have been the first time that she had to do that to get him to stop being silly about the whole thing. Sighing, Seto nodded.

"It's just like you said, my hand and side," he replied without much effort. She could hear his voice was strained though and it turned her feisty attitude down a bit as she frowned. This time, when she grabbed his arm, he let her and she examined his hand. It appeared to be badly bruised around the knuckles and it made her shake her head yet again.

"Open and close your fingers a few times." She watched his feeble attempt to do so, and watched how he bit back the pain in doing so, until she held up her hand to stop him. "Well, we'll have to take an x-ray later but I'm going to guess you just fractured a few of your metacarpal bones." She turned around and noticed Mokuba was at the door. Giving him a sweet smile, she calmly asked, "Could you got get some bandage wraps from the clinic and some ice from the kitchen for your stupid brother?" Giggling, the child agreed and ran off to fetch as per requested of him. When he was gone Dr. Mori turned back toward Seto and she did her best to keep a straight and professional face. "Alright, lift up your shirt."

"Get out of here now," he said coldly as he turned away and she laughed a bit before holding her fist up to his face again.

"I said do it! I need to look at your side." Kaiba rolled his eyes before slowly pulling himself up and wincing a bit. He pulled up the side of his shirt where it hurt and Dr. Mori's eyes widened when she saw the large, dark bruise forming right under Seto's ribcage. Her fingers lightly grazed the painful looking flesh but even at that Seto grimaced and she just shook her head yet again. "This guy must be important if you let yourself get this beaten up, kid," she murmured quietly as she felt around the bruise to see if any bones beneath were broken. Between silent winces Seto kept quiet. He had no response for what she was saying and she just let it go. "I don't think you have any broken bones but from the sound of your breathing you probably bruised a rib or two…again, we'll have to get an x-ray done after I finish with the blond upstairs."

"Fine," Kaiba said bitterly as she pulled back and he pulled his shirt back down and shifted in his chair so he could lean back. Dr. Mori followed him with her eyes.

"What the hell happened?" her anger with him had dissipated by now and instead she was just honestly interested. She watched the sweat on his brow and frowned again. "Where ever you were sure made you look like shit. It looks like you're going to be sick." And he felt like he was going to be just that, but he just shook his head.

"It was just the fumes in that place," he said sourly as Mokuba finally returned with the bandages and ice. He put them on the desk and Dr. Mori propped herself up to sit there while she took his hand and slowly began to bandage it in a careful pattern, hoping his fingers were just badly bruised, like his side, instead of fractured or broken.

"Fumes?" she asked as she did her work skillfully. "What the hell were you two doing?"

"Nothing important," he said coolly, forcing Dr. Mori's eyes to narrow. She could see he wasn't feeling well, however, and that he really didn't seem to want to talk about it so she dropped it. For now. For the next few minutes she took to carefully bandaging his hand until she was sure he couldn't move it from its straight pose. She then locked the bandages in and put his hand under the little bag of ice that Mokuba brought for him.

"Well, I'll send Mokuba down with some painkillers and nausea medication. Your friend is in worst shape so you'll have to wait for those x-rays for a while. You should go rest in the meantime and I'll get you when we're ready for you." She said as she slid off the desk and walked toward the door. When she noticed he wasn't moving she narrowed her eyes at him once again. "I said go rest! What are you, a deaf dumbass now? Get to bed before I kick your ass!" Sighing, Kaiba stood up but he wasn't letting her win that easily.

"You should stop making faces like that; it just makes your face wrinkle faster." She stared at him in horror before touching her face as he walked past.

"You brat! Forget the pain killers, you can wallow in your pain!" she yelled as she stomped off toward the main staircase and took it up to her 'clinic' as she called it. Mokuba followed her. It was his turn to shake his head at the two of them in disbelief. He wasn't sure how this place was ever quiet with two people like that living under one roof. But he knew that, despite what she just said, Dr. Mori was going to send him back with medicine for Seto so he followed her anyway. And, as he predicted, she went straight to the lock box where she kept the pharmaceuticals and started going through things, even though her temper was still flaring. When she found what she wanted him to take she put the doses in a little plastic cup and handed it to Mokuba. "There, he'll be fine. Now don't come back until that door is opened again," she said swiftly as she closed the lock box and put on a new pair of gloves and a mask. Mokuba was already gone by the time she turned around. The nurse closed and locked the door after he was gone and rolled a small cart over with all the items they needed for Jounouchi's stitches, which they got to work on quickly.

Mokuba ran up the stairs to his brother's bedroom and knocked on the door. After a moment Seto opened it, which just made Mokuba frown. "Dr. Mori said you should be resting." Kaiba just walked into his room and sat down in one of the chairs by the window. It was starting to get dark out and he honestly didn't feel like wasting the rest of his day laying down when he was already backed up with his work. Mokuba made a little face when he was ignored but just followed his brother hand handed him the pills. "Dr. Mori said they'll make you feel better so take them!" He hopped up on a chair and watched his brother, determined to make sure he took every pill in the bottle. When Kaiba saw that Mokuba wasn't going to leave until then he down the pills all at once as he tilt his head back and let them slide down his throat in a disgusting blend of bland flavors. Mokuba just made a face and shuddered. Kaiba chuckled.

"What's with that face?" he asked as he leaned back in his chair.

"That was gross!" he whined before leaning forward on the table and laying his head in his hands. "Hey Seto, if you're feeling better can you tell me what happened while you guys were gone?"

"Nothing important."

"Come on Seto! There's no way that's true! Something had to happen for both of you to come back injured."

"Later Mokuba," he said in a quiet voice. He held his head for a moment, the headache pounding against his skull once more, before it subsided as quickly as it appeared. Mokuba just frowned as he stood up.

"Okay, but can you rest now? I'm too young to take over Kaiba Corp if you die," he joked, trying to get a smile from Seto. It worked, slightly, because it at least got a smirk before the older brother stood up as well and ruffled his hair.

"Fine." Mokuba smiled and gave him a hug before running out of the room, closing the door behind him. Kaiba almost sat back down and pulled out his laptop but he decided against it. There was no point in trying to type up anything with one hand bandaged like this, and he was started to feel tired from that medicine. Part of him bet Dr. Mori drugged him with something to make him go to sleep just as punishment for that comment about wrinkles. It almost made him chuckle to think about it.

Thinking he'd only be laying there for a little while, an hour tops, he didn't bother trying to change his clothes and just laid on top of his bed and shut his eyes. When his eyes opened again it was five hours later and the sun was surely gone from the sky. He quickly sat up in the bed, surprised, only to fall back with a loud wince. He tried that again, only this time he sat up slower and then moved so he could swing his legs off the side of his bed. When he was up he felt something tight around his chest and ran his good hand over it, feeling something rise under his shirt. Lifting it slightly he saw bandages wrapped around him with padding over the area where he had the bruise. It was then that he noticed his injured hand had new bandages on it that wrapped around each finger individually and let him actually move his fingers. He tried a few times before giving up and moving to stand and turn a lamp on. Once the light flooded the room from his nightstand he saw a small note leaning against the lamp and picked it up to read Dr. Mori's horrible handwriting.

_Kid,_

_You sure are a light weight. I didn't even give you that many sedatives! Anyway, we took the X-rays while you were knocked out and you're in the clear. Looks like you have a bruised rib bone but it won't be too bad for long. Your hand has a fracture in your middle and ring finger but the others are okay, so just try not to use them._

_By the time you wake up your fever should be gone. Whatever fumes you dealt with probably just got you sick. Don't move around too much, those sedatives tend to come back around and kick in again after a little while._

_-Mori_

Seto just sighed and threw the note away before walking over to his window to look outside. It wasn't too late, but it was clearly night by now and he wasn't exactly happy to have caught up on lost sleep. Since he still didn't think typing was that good of an idea he didn't bother trying to finish his paperwork and instead left his room all together. If his x-rays were done then that meant that Jounouchi was all patched up and, for whatever reason, he wanted to see how he was doing. Honestly, Seto didn't understand why he bothered checking on the male every night. Sure, it was something he use to do for Mokuba when their adopted father kept them separated whenever Mokuba was sick, but there was no reason to do it now and especially not for someone like Jounouchi. Yet he was doing it anyway.

As he quietly down the hall toward Jounouchi's room he thought about all the odd questions that were arising over the past week. From the conversation he had with Mokuba to everything that happened earlier that day everything seemed to just pile up. He wasn't sure what the point was but each thing got stored in his head for later. It was like a puzzle. Everything that was happening would reveal itself later when he just got a few more pieces. That's when he remembered he needed to send someone to Jounouchi's father to fix the apartment and make sure those idiots didn't come back around. He made a detour away from Jounouchi's room and walked down the main staircase instead. He opened the front door after he got in the foyer and there, as per usual, he saw Hayate and Shun guarding the front door.

"Mister Kaiba, do you need to go somewhere?" Hayate asked as he and Shun turned to face him. Seto shook his head.

"No. I want one of the butlers and one of you to go watch someone," he stated calmly. The bodyguards nodded and Hayate wrote down Jounouchi's address before Kaiba left them out there to finish their duties. He didn't care who went in the morning so long as the job was done as he described it.

Since that was done he returned to his track toward Jounouchi's room. He had to take it slow, since the stairs made him use his side a bit more than he would like to, but he pushed through it. Pain was something he had a high tolerance for now, after everything that happened when he was younger, but even he wasn't made of steel. When he finally got to Jounouchi's room he stood there, staring at the door like he usually did. He brushed back his hair with his good hand and leaned against the wall across from him door. Unlike the other nights, where he paused for a moment and then went on anyway, he stopped himself. Something told him to stay away from Jounouchi, as if being around him was going to change something drastically and he didn't know what it was. Was it the fact that Mokuba was getting attached to him? No, that was annoying but it wasn't anything drastically different. There was something else that was making him wary of the male and it had slowly been building over the past week.

After a moment Kaiba just got annoyed by his thoughts. He was thinking like the other dweebs with their superstitious ideas and it was far from his normal behavior. So he through the ideas away and just walked over before quietly opening the door. It was dark inside, though the bright moon shone through the window and hid behind the thin curtains. He let the door quietly closed behind him and stood there until his eyes adjusted to the darkness and until he was fairly certain Jounouchi was still out cold. It was then that he began to look around the room again, as he always did. Nothing was out of place and the only thing added was the bag from earlier sitting in the corner. It was while he was looking around that Jounouchi began to move on the bed and Seto's good hand went to the door knob so he could escape if the male woke up. But to escape meant he was afraid of something and he wasn't, so his hand fell to his side again and he waited to see what would happen.

After moving around a bit, Jounouchi finally opened his eyes and groaned. He had a terrible itching sensation on his side and he just felt like his skin was burning. As he laid there he pushed the covers away from his body and closed his eyes again, not realizing where he was, or who was there. He moved his hand to the bottom of his shirt and started to pull it up, holding the shirt with one hand while the other one roamed his now scared abdomen. He stopped at the padded bandages taped to his side where his newly re-done stitches were burning. His fingers tried to peel back the bandages desperately but it was pointless. Kaiba wasn't sure which would be worse at that point, leaving or speaking, but he couldn't help himself when a comment rose to his mind.

"You're like a dog with fleas. Keep itching like that and you'll tear them open yourself," his voice was low and quiet, which sounded almost threatening in the darkness. Jounouchi's hands froze as his eyes suddenly opened and he sat up with a wince to look around. It took him a few passes before he finally saw Seto's silhouette in the darkness and he pulled the sheets up his body as if he were going to hide.

"What the fuck!" he yelled as he stared at Seto, who just chuckled at the fear he suddenly had. "The fuck is going on?!"

"Nothing," Seto responded as if it were the word of the day; it was all he told anyone. Jounouchi, freaked out or not, wasn't taking that shit.

"Yea the fuck right! What the hell are you doing lurking around like the goddamn batman or something!" he yelled. Kaiba was pretty sure if anyone lived in any of the rooms around this one they would have woken up by now. He sighed though, not exactly in the mood to deal with a yelping dog.

"Checking to see if you died before you paid your debt," he finally said as he went to cross his arms but winced as he tried so he let them fall to his sides again. Jounouchi narrowed his eyes but slowly relaxed as he looked over Kaiba. He noticed that his coat was gone and he was only wearing that tight black shirt he always had on, it even still had those weird belts around his arms. He caught himself staring and shook his head before looking away again, glad that the darkness probably hid most of the small blush coming to his face.

"This has to be a dream or something, there's no way the real Kaiba would care." Instead of feeling insulted by the comment Kaiba was more intrigued. He took a few steps forward until he was near Jounouchi's bed, the moonlight finally lighting up his features. His skin was still rather pale compared to normal and his blue eyes were far from their normal shade or piercing quality, all of which Jounouchi just mentally used to prove this was totally a dream.

"A dream? Why the hell would you be dreaming about something like this?" he asked genuinely curious. That blush jumped back to Jounouchi's cheeks and he started shaking his hands in front of him.

"D-did I say dream? I meant nightmare…yea nightmare! This has got to be a nightmare if I'm dealing with y-you!" Seto wasn't buying it.

"I doubt even you're dumb enough to confuse a dream and a nightmare, make-inu" he said in his cold voice, though it rang with his amusement. The fact that he got a slight insult ridden compliment from Kaiba just made Jounouchi believe this was a dream even more. Hell, he wasn't even sure he wasn't drugged up and this was a hallucination or just a side effect of some medication or something. Or he could be dead. Dead would work, because he felt like he was dying with how hot his face felt.

"W-well I was confused! Obviously this is a nightmare!"

"What makes you so sure?" Kaiba asked as he looked down at Jounouchi. It was easy to see the blonde's face lit up with a deep crimson blush up close and it confused Seto at first.

"B-Because," he figured he was asleep, so what was the harm in being honest? "If this was a dream we wouldn't be arguing right now a-and…there's something wrong with your hand!" he pointed at the bandaged hand Kaiba had but it didn't stop the words he just said from sinking into Seto's mind. His eyes narrowed slightly but his curiosity got the better of him yet again. Really, if he were a cat he probably would have died by now.

"What would we be doing then, if this were a dream?" Jounouchi's blush got significantly darker.

"N-Nothing! We'd be doing no-nothing!" he said as he looked away from Kaiba and toward the door he had come in from instead. Seto was having none of that. When Jounouchi wouldn't' look at him he reached forward with his good hand and pulled the other male's attention with the movement. He didn't even have to touch him for Jounouchi's heart to pound and his head to spin. "D-don't touch me!" he said as he closed his eyes tight. He was afraid he'd have another one of those dreams if Kaiba touched him and he couldn't stand to do that if the itching on his side continued like it was. Seto withdrew his hand for a moment, and watched Jounouchi's reaction until he pulled away completely. Jounouchi peeked up, looking at Kaiba to see if he moved away and when he did Jounouchi let out a relieved sigh. He closed his eyes once more, content this time, and let himself fall back at full speed, ready to pretend going back to sleep so all of this would just go back to being a dream. The force of his fall combined with the trajectory was clearly a bad idea to Seto, who moved far faster than he should have to stop it. Kaiba noticed Jounouchi's head was far too close to the headboard as it was before he started falling and that wasn't a good thing when idiots don't pay attention. That's just what they needed too, a Jounouchi with a head injury. So, to prevent that, he half knelt on the bed so he could reach his head and let it land on his arm instead of the headboard. It caused Seto to grimace as his arm made contact with the headboard instead of Jounouchi's head.

Expecting to feel the pillows and not something solid, Jounouchi opened his eyes only to see Kaiba looking annoyed and leaning over him. His blush stayed as he stared at him, his eyes only wavering when he saw the glint of Kaiba's duel monsters themed locket dangling from his confined neck. It just gave him a reason to look over the other male and he gulped before shifting and pulling away from Kaiba's hand so he could put his head on the pillows. He figured if he just pretended to go to sleep in his dream then he'd wake up and everything would be back to normal. Once he moved Seto went back to standing, though he winced a bit, the movement having curved his side forcing him to take a rather sharp intake of breath. Jounouchi heard it and his eyes opened again before he looked over at Kaiba, who had turned away and held his side.

Jounouchi slowly sat up again and scooted himself down to the other side of the bed so he was closer to where Kaiba was and his head tilt to the side while he scratched the back of his head. "What's wrong with you…?" he asked but Kaiba didn't pay any attention to him. Instead he started for the door to leave. He didn't have the patience any more to deal with Jounouchi, not even to mess with him. Jounouchi, still thinking this was some sort of dream, quickly – or as quickly as he could – got up and followed Kaiba to the door but blocked it before he could leave. He brunette just glared at the blonde and the two stayed in that position for a few moments before Jounouchi felt the undeniable desire to do something and instead of doing so he turned away and covered his mouth, his blush having quickly returned. Kaiba used the moment to open the door and leave. Before he closed the door, however, he glanced back, smirking at the blushing blond.

"Go back to bed make-inu." He closed the door and slowly made his way back upstairs and to his own room. He had to hold the wall a few times, his side just aching. He was pretty sure those pain killers Dr. Mori gave him earlier were finally wearing off and he just hoped the sedatives kicked back in like she said. Jounouchi went back to bed as commanded and laid there for a while before he finally fell asleep again. It wouldn't be until morning when he woke up, feeling oddly uncomfortable, that he would question everything that happened that night.

* * *

It was bright out that next morning but Jounouchi was up before the sun even rose. He just couldn't sleep very well after waking up that first time during the night. In fact he was almost positive he couldn't sleep well because that 'first time' he woke up was just some dream that went oddly. He didn't know how to read dreams like some people claimed to be able to do so he wasn't exactly sure what the hell to think about it, but he was positive it was a dream at least. After all, there was no way Kaiba would bother to check on him, debt or not. Hell, they barely even talked the whole week he lived there so why would the guy check up on him? Yea, it had to be a dream. He hoped.

At the same time Kaiba was awake in his room and feeling groggy. Dr. Mori was right, the sedatives came back for round two and knocked him out not long after returning to his bed the night before. The only difference between himself and Jounouchi were the thoughts he woke up with. He honestly couldn't remember ever waking up during the night. The pain when he returned to his room coupled by the sedatives kicking in again blocked his mind of anything else. He couldn't even figure out what time it was until he rolled onto his side and groaned in pain, forcing him to wake up fully and look at the clock. He was already late by his standards, though the sun had barely begun to rise. With slow movements he pushed himself up and got out of his bed. Noticing his bandaged hand he vaguely remembered something about it and figured he just forgot having those x-rays done after whatever drugs were put into his system.

He didn't want to deal with Dr. Mori again today so he was careful with his movements. He checked himself by moving this way and that with his side and his hand. The wound on his side ached horribly but he could live with it. His hand, on the other hand, was uncomfortably numb at its center, and whenever he moved his other fingers they sent a jolt through his hand as if his whole arm was asleep. It was better than yesterday, however, so he wasn't going to complain. And it also meant he had enough fingers on that hand that could work so he could take the belts off his arm. He desperately wanted a shower after being in that awful apartment complex and then sleeping for unknown hours. It took him a bit of time but he eventually got the belts off both arms and legs, then the metal braces he wore on his wrists off as well. After that the rest was easy to get rid of once he went into the master bath connected to his room where he proceeded to get into the shower.

Down the hall Mokuba was waking up and wanted to see how Seto and Jounouchi were doing before he had to deal with his tutors again. He ran down the hall to Seto's room, opening the door only to see the belts and braces on the end of his bed. When he heard the water running he at least knew that Seto was alive and used the opportunity to go check on Jounouchi downstairs. He stopped at the door and knocked lightly before opening it a crack and looking inside only to see Jounouchi standing at the window staring outside and scratching at his stomach.

"Jounouchi!" Mokuba said happily as he ran into the room and up to Jounouchi, who gave him a sleepy grin in return.

"Hey Moki. Good timing, I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"When the heck did I get back here? I can't remember a thing," he said with an obnoxious laugh that showed his embarrassment as he scratched the back of his neck. Mokuba just rolled his eyes.

"You were already out when Seto drove up! I don't remember if you were asleep or just passed out. Dr. Mori gave you some more ane..ane…um, some more drugs when you came in so you wouldn't wake up while she was fixing your stitches."

"Oh, that explains a lot I guess..." he mumbled to himself as he shrugged. He looked back out the window and stared at nothing in particular for a few moments before Mokuba walked in front of him and peeked out the window too. There really wasn't anything there worth staring at so he turned around and gave Jounouchi a weird look.

"What are you staring at?"

"Eh, I don't know. Hey where's your brother?" Now Mokuba really gave him a weird look but he just shrugged.

"I don't' know, why?" It wasn't a complete lie, after all Seto could have been out of the shower by now.

"I think I owe him a few 'thanks' for this week," he said with a grimace as if telling Kaiba _thank you_ was the worst thing that could happen in his life. Mokuba just giggled.

"Let's go find him then! Oh, oh can we play a game with it?" Mokuba asked which got Jounouchi's attention.

"What kinda game?"

"Whoever finds him first wins and gets to pick the game for later today!" he said after pausing for a moment to think it over. Jounouchi grinned and nodded, giving the kid a thumbs up.

"Sounds good to me, see ya slow poke!" he said before he quickly rushed for the door to leave and go searching. Mokuba yelled after him before running out of the room too. The two ran into each other periodically while searching for Kaiba. It didn't take them long to both end up on the main staircase, out of breath and tired. "Ugh, this place is too big!" Jounouchi whined as he laid across a few stairs. Mokuba laughed and nodded.

"Y-yea…but if neither of us found him…then I know where he's got to be…" he said with a grin. Jounouchi turned slightly on the stairs to look at Mokuba but was too lazy to actually get up.

"Where, Kaiba corp? I'm not running to Kaiba Corp," he grumbled as he watched the kid slowly push himself up.

"He's probably in his room, that's the last place to look! I'm going to beat you there!" he said as he pushed himself up and started to climb the stairs again. Jounouchi couldn't turn down a challenge and pulled himself up by the railing of the stairs before he followed Mokuba up the stairs. Taking a few deep breaths, he prepared himself and then chased the kid down the hall to the next staircase.

"Like I'm gonna let the little Kaiba beat me!" he said with a grin as he passed Mokuba, who yelled at him. In reality Mokuba wanted Jounouchi to get there first just because Mokuba wanted to see what would happen. He wasn't disappointed.

Mokuba had shown Jounouchi every room in the mansion by now accept one, so when they got to the third floor Jounouchi was so sure that he knew which room was Kaiba's that he didn't take the time to knock on the door. Instead he just opened it and froze dead in his tracks. Seto was there alright, but not at all in the way Jounouchi expected to find him. Having just walked out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and another over his head to catch any water dripping off his hair, Seto wasn't exactly expecting any visitors. He had been at his bed picking up the belts he had on his arms and legs earlier when the door open and he turned only to see Jounouchi in his door way with Mokuba behind him snickering. Seto didn't have time to react, however, because Jounouchi did first.

As soon as he saw Seto standing there, barely clothed and still covered in a steamy mist from the shower, his blood pressure rose dramatically. He didn't even pay attention to the bandages on Seto's side or his hand. "I, uh, s-sorry!" he splurged before tasting something on his lips. That's when he realized his nose was bleeding and he quickly covered his face and ran down the hall, the stairs, and went all the way back to his room before stopping. Seto stared where Jounouchi had been for a moment before looking down at Mokuba with a cold gaze. The younger Kaiba put his hands up in defense.

"We were looking for you! He wanted to thank you that's all!" Seto walked over to his brother and closed the door on him, locking it this time for sure. He could hear Mokuba's giggling in the hall, however. And the younger brother couldn't help it. The scene had been hilarious. But it was this laughter that gave Kaiba just another piece to the puzzle he'd been wondering over for the past few days.

* * *

**Wasn't that gre****at? I wonder what Jou and Seto think...**

**Seto: ... *walks away***

**Jounouchi: *still trying to stop his nosebleed* x.x**

**Hehe**

**Hope you all liked it!**


	9. A Promise to Keep

**Hiya everyone! Sorry that I didn't update yesterday, I was preoccupied with Injustice: God's Among Us (omg get it, get it now!)**

**Here we are with another very dramatic and important chapter that I hope all of you like as much as I do! I had a lot of fun writing it!**

**Just so you all know, I am defo a Team Mori supporter (not that this means anything to anyone besides Kay lol)**

**So lets see...are we ready? Guys?**

**Seto: ...**

**Jou: ...Yea...**

**Good!**

**As always, 4kids couldn't clean this shit up if I owned it, so obviously I don't own anyone or thing accept the words, the plot, and the ocs.**

* * *

As the door shut in his face, Mokuba just giggled. Seto may have been mad, or embarrassed, but the scene had definitely been worth it. Not only did Mokuba get to gauge both of their reactions, he also got to start planning other silly occurrences. He wasn't sure what the occurrences would end in but he was having too much fun to care. His laughter made that clear, even to Dr. Mori who happened to be walking up the stairs at that exact moment. Originally she was going to check in on Seto but Mokuba stopped her when she heard that laughter. She knew how the Kaiba boys worked, and this was never a good sign.

"Mokuba? What's so funny?" she asked in a pleasant tone as she rounded the last curve of the staircase and saw him standing outside of Seto's door. She gave him her customary smile but her eyes gave away her wary emotions. Mokuba didn't seem to notice as he turned around and returned her smile with a large one of his own.

"You missed it, Dr. Mori!" he explained as his laughter died down and he ran over to meet her just as she took to the last step. She gave him a skeptical look as her head tilt to the side, allowing a few strands of her red hair to fall from the neat bun on the top of her head and trace the edges of her pointed glasses.

"Missed what? Don't leave me out of the loop now, Mokuba!" She exchanged her skeptical look for another smile, hoping it would get some information out of the boy, but he just shook his head and jumped around her so he could go down the stairs himself.

"I can't! Not here at least," he said as his voice turned from an excited tone to a whisper. "Seto will hear and get mad." He began giggling again as he started down the stairs. That last statement alone, however, was enough to grab Dr. Mori's attention indefinitely so she turned and followed after him.

"Oh? Then you absolutely have to tell me! We can talk privately in the clinic," she explained as she caught up with him on the stairs. Mokuba's smile turned into a smirk. He had been hoping she would follow him and try to get him to talk.

"Okay!" Now Mokuba was really excited. He had to talk to someone about everything that was happening, so he figured Dr. Mori would be the best one to tell. She knew just about everything that happened in the mansion anyway, so maybe she could help him decide what to do next. Besides, she always promised that no matter what he told her, she would never repeat it to anyone else. That's why he followed her into the clinic once they got on the second floor. He stayed quiet and just looked around the bright room until Dr. Mori had her nurse leave to preform her other duties as a maid.

"Alright, now spill it. What's been going on?" she asked as she sat down on one of the desk chairs with Mokuba sitting, and spinning, on another. He had to steady himself before he continued to speak.

"Well, Jounouchi and I were playing a game while we tried to find Seto, the winner got to pick what we'd do later today. Jounouchi just wanted to thank Seto for all his help. So we ran all over the place but we couldn't find him anywhere, it was like he was hiding from us! Then I remembered we never checked Seto's room, so we raced up there and Jounouchi just threw the door open like he forgot someone could be there! It was really funny. Seto was there though, and he must have just gotten out of the shower because he had a towel on and stuff. Jounouchi freaked out and I think he was trying to talk, I couldn't really understand him, but eventually his nose started bleeding and it snapped him out of it and he ran away! Hehe, Seto was so mad he slammed the door on me!" Mokuba started giggling again but Dr. Mori just looked a tad bit confused.

"He had a nosebleed? Just out of the blue? I think I'm missing something here." Mokuba frowned. He was expecting her to laugh with him and he couldn't figure out why she didn't at first. Then he realized she didn't understand the situation, which also confused him since he automatically assumed she knew everything in the house just by passing.

"Oh, I guess you didn't find out yet!" he said with a grin. He knew leaving the statement at that would get under her skin and it was clear to see he was right by the way her face changed from confusion to intense interest.

"Find out what? Start from the beginning child!" she said in an annoyed tone. His grin just grew before he elaborated.

"Well, the day Jounouchi woke up I heard his friends talking about him as they were leaving. One of them was trying to explain how Jounouchi's gay. I wanted to figure out more about it so I asked Seto and he was acting weird so I kept trying to figure it out on my own. Now I just keep setting things up so I can figure out why they're being so weird." He thought she would be really interested but instead he saw her suddenly frowning at his words. The change in her face had his own grin disappearing. "What?"

"You shouldn't tease people with things like sexuality, Mokuba. It's cruel." Dr. Mori frowned, having believed he was better than that. Seeing the disappointment in her eyes made Mokuba shrink in his seat, his hands gripping sides of his chair as the feeling of being judged engulfed him. He felt rather dumb for his actions now.

"I'm sorry…I wasn't trying to be cruel, I just wanted to know if the other stuff Jounouchi's friends said were true." He glanced up, still feeling bad that he thought everything he was doing was so funny. He never thought he could be cruel to Seto or Jounouchi.

"What other things?" she asked as she leaned back in her chair until the back hit the desk and she let her arm rest across the top of it.

"Well… one of them thought he, uh, likes Seto," he said sheepishly, making her eyes widen as the information hung in the air for a moment.

"Really now…," she said off handedly as she thought about it. Mokuba just nodded.

"Mmhmm, and at first I just wanted to know more about why his friends would talk about it behind his back and not to him. But when Seto started acting weird I started wondering if, um, well…if he was gay too."

"Did you ask him about Jounouchi? Or if he were gay?" she asked, not missing a beat after Mokuba stopped explaining himself.

"No, I just asked him about what it meant to be gay. I knew some stuff but I didn't know a lot. He looked really uncomfortable so I thought; maybe he didn't want to talk about it because he's gay too. So I asked him if he was and he just ended the conversation." Mokuba looked up, showing how confused about all of this he really was, especially the little details. Dr. Mori sighed and leaned forward a bit, her arm sliding off the desk and into her lap as she did.

"What would you do if he were gay?" Whether or not it ended up being true, Dr. Mori wondered over Mokuba's opinion. She knew that it would greatly affect Kaiba one way or another, if the situation were true. She didn't think Mokuba would be against it, since most people in his generation were taught differently than those of her own or most others before him.

"I wouldn't care. I just want Seto to stop being so…grumpy all the time. I thought; if he was and he admitted it then maybe he could find someone to cheer him up. At least once and a while," he mumbled. Dr. Mori couldn't keep her smile from twitching at her lips once again. She sat up once more and nodded a bit, enjoying his response. He just seemed so grown up that it made her rather proud.

"You're a good little brother, Mokuba. But why do you keep teasing Jounouchi?" Mokuba looked down again, a bit quicker than before, and started fumbling with the edge of his striped shirt. He made sure his bangs fell forward enough so his face was slightly hidden in their shadow.

"I like Jounouchi…. He doesn't mind hanging out with me and he's really entertaining. I…I don't want him to leave. If he does then things will just go back to how they were and I'll be alone again or I'll just annoy Seto until he doesn't want to deal with me," he said in a somber tone that even had Dr. Mori's heart twisting in a knot. "I thought…if Jounouchi really did like Seto, and Seto is gay, then maybe he could stay and he could make Seto stop being so crabby all the time," he murmured embarrassingly. Dr. Mori stared at him for a moment before her eyes glossed over and she suddenly rolled her chair over to him and pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"Ooooh! You are the cutest child! Playing matchmaker for your brother…that's so adorable!" She kept hugging the bewildered Mokuba until he couldn't breathe anymore and had to finally wiggle out of her grasp. When he did he coughed a bit as he sat back down before he looked up, a little blush on his cheeks, and smiled.

"I, uh, guess so…but I guess I was just being mean about it."

"Somewhat, but only because you were going about it the wrong way," she began to explain. "You don't know if Seto feels that way, and you can't just assume he does. He could be straight and just hasn't met a girl who can deal with his childish antics and pompous behavior without knocking his head a few times. But, if he is gay, you have to let him figure it out on his own. And if he does, or has, then he has to accept it."

"Accept it?" Mokuba interrupted suddenly, his mind just getting jumbled and confused.

"Yes, you see not everyone is alright with couples of the same sex. So when a boy likes a boy, or a girl likes a girl, they can end up in very bad situations because of very stupid, ignorant people. Because of this some people who are gay will never accept the fact that they are. Instead they try to hide it so they don't get hurt from people they care about, or are afraid of."

"Oh…but Seto isn't afraid of anyone!" Dr. Mori gave him a sad little smile and nodded her head.

"That may be so, but there's still a lot of danger for Seto, if he is gay. So, if he is and he accepted it, you just have to wait for him to feel okay with talking about it. You can't just force him into anything, whether it's feeling that way or talking about it or even thinking about it. If you do that, it would only confuse him and make it all the harder on him. That's the cruel part of what you were doing." Mokuba nodded and thought about it for a moment before another question popped up in his mind.

"What if he never figures it out and just stays grumpy forever?" Dr. Mori's brow rose for a moment when she saw the look of concern on Mokuba's face for his brother.

"Mokuba…, do you think your brother's gay?"

"Uh…kinda," he admitted with a little shrug. Now Dr. Mori really was interested in the conversation, more so than at any other moment.

"Why?

"I don't really know…I guess it's just because he acted so weird when I brought it up. And…well he acts even weirder around Jounouchi." She nodded a bit to his reasoning, understanding easily where he was coming from.

"I suppose you're right. He is acting oddly chivalrous around the boy. At least you didn't base your accusations on his clothes, she joked with a giggle. Mokuba joined in.

"Why would I?"

"No reason at all. It's actually a good thing that you didn't because some people are very stupid and use things like clothing against other people. I'm really glad you didn't," she tried to clarify. "It's just that…his clothes really confuse me sometimes. From those belt things to the weird coats…I just don't get it." Mokuba giggled again and nodded. The two used this opportunity to laugh for a bit until Mokuba just took a deep breath and jumped off his chair.

"I guess I should go tell Seto and Jounouchi that I'm sorry for this morning. Thanks for explaining stuff, Dr. Mori!"

"No problem kiddo. Don't be late to your lessons."

"I won't be!" He smiled and started to leave when he stopped and turned around. "Do you think Jounouchi will be better soon? So we can go outside and play kickball again."

"Give him a few days, and then you two can run around."

"Okay! Bye!" he gave her a wave before rushing out of the clinic. Dr. Mori just smiled after him and shook her head.

"'Bout time someone else noticed it," she mumbled to herself as she turned to review the paperwork she wrote up the night before on both Seto and Jounouchi. "Now the kid just needs to figure it out for himself. Hope he does before a good chance gets away."

* * *

Since Jounouchi's room was just down the hall Mokuba walked over to it and knocked. He waited a few moments before knocking again. He found it really weird that no one answered and tried one more time. "Hey, are you in there Jounouchi?" A few moments later the door opened and Jounouchi pulled Mokuba in by the arm before closing the door again. Mokuba nearly fell but caught himself on Jounouchi's arm before shaking free. "Hey, what's the big idea?!" he yelled. Jounouchi just covered his mouth and made the 'shhh' gesture at Mokuba, who quieted down but looked overly annoyed.

"Ugh, I feel like I'm going to be killed. You aren't here to stab me or anything right?" Jounouchi asked with a groan as he carefully plopped back down on his unmade bed. Mokuba followed him, laughing a little. He was laughing especially when he noticed that Jounouchi had pieces of tissues stuck in his nose.

"What's that stuff in your nose?" he asked between bits of laughter. The blond quickly covered his nose and did his best to get up without incident before going into the bathroom. He came back out a few seconds later with the tissues gone and his nose looking raw. "You're weird, sometimes."

"Yea, you're one to talk, Moki," Jounouchi rebutted as he sat down on his bed again. "So, you aren't here to kill me and help hide my body?"

"Haha, no way! Why would I be?"

"Pretty sure you're brother's going to find some extreme way of torturing me for this. I swear, sometimes I think I was safer getting my ass kicked in the alley rather than dealing with him." Mokuba frowned, not very pleased by that idea.

"Why? Don't you like it here? If you don't like something we could get it changed. A new room, new stuff, anything." This time it was Jounouchi's turn to frown as he looked down at Mokuba and shook his head.

"Hey, don't start talking like that. All it does is make you sound despite and weak, and you aren't like that are you?" Mokuba shook his head and Jounouchi continued before he could speak. "Yea, I know you aren't, so don't talk like that okay? You don't have to buy people. If you do they'll just be around you to take advantage of you." He paused for a moment before grimacing. "But don't be like your damn brother either! Shutting everyone out is the stupidest thing you can do in the world. Even he needs other people sometimes, and I bet his stupid attitude keeps you away from everyone too, huh? He needs to stop being so self-centered and learn to like people again!" Jounouchi said with his fist raised, though Mokuba couldn't tell if it was like that because he wanted to beat the shit out of Seto, or because he secretly wanted Seto to like _him_.

"Maybe he can, if someone helps him," Mokuba mumbled as he turned for the door. "I've got to go to my lessons, but I wanted to say sorry for this morning. Can we play a game or something when I'm out of my lessons?"

"It's not your fault; I was the idiot so no problem, Moki. And definitely. So long as I'm not dead by then," Jounouchi said with a painful grin. Mokuba just laughed.

"Don't worry, Seto won't kill you! See you soon!" he said as he opened the door and ran out of the room. Jounouchi just laid back on the bed and tried his hardest not to scratch at his side. He still felt that burning sensation that peeked every now and then. He knew he shouldn't scratch it but if this continued he was going to end up back with Dr. Mori. He decided to try and get some actual sleep until Mokuba was out of his weird lesson things so he closed his eyes and just let his thoughts drift away.

Down the hall, however, Mokuba was on a tight schedule. He only had a half hour until his tutors showed up to bore him to death and he wanted to talk to Seto before then. His first guess about where his brother could be was his room, figuring Seto may try to relax after Dr. Mori threatened him the day before. And if that wasn't a reason he definitely thought Seto would try to avoid Jounouchi, just like the vice did. But he was wrong and Seto wasn't in his room when he went upstairs to check, nor was the door locked. He figured the only other place his brother could be was his downstairs office so he rushed down the stairs and came to a close halt outside the doors. Just as he was about to knock on the door he heard the phone ringing inside and figured that was a sign someone was in there. He knocked but got no reply, however. So he waited a few moments and tried again but the same nonexistent reply came. Getting a bit annoyed at this point, Mokuba left to go into one of his hiding spots so he could sneak into Seto's office like he usually did.

It took him a few minutes, so the conversation going on in the office was already pretty advanced by the time he got there. When he finally got up to the secret door and opened it, just a crack so he could hear and see, he was shocked. There, on the computer monitor, he could see the humble figure of Mr. Mishura. He was an old, bland looking man with grey hair and a tired face but his eyes had the same spark as any man in a position of power held. It wasn't this that surprised Mokuba, however. No, instead it was what he was saying.

"I have a proposition for you, Mr. Kaiba," Mr. Mishura had begun. Seto didn't say a thing as he waited. Taking the silence as an okay to continue, the old man did just that. "Why don't we combine our companies and their fortunes?" Mokuba couldn't see Seto's face from his position so he didn't know what was going through his brother's mind at first. The silence, again, was enough to get Mr. Mishura to speak. "What I mean to say is, I would like to offer you the chance to marry my daughter, Kamiko. She's a very intelligent girl, well suited for a man like you, as well as a beauty and both of our companies could do well with the publicity." Mokuba was about to crawl out of his hiding place and yell at the man on the video chat for being so rude as to propose something like that. But he stayed back. The things Dr. Mori told him earlier, about how he really didn't know what Seto wanted when it came to other people, made him continue watching instead of intervening.

"If this is all the business you have to talk to me about you'll do better to not contact me again," Seto said in an icy cold voice that even had the man seemingly shrinking away on the screen. Mokuba silently grinned.

"I apologize, Mr. Kaiba. I hope you will consider the offer at a later time, since my daughter is quite prepared to go along with it at any time."

"This matter is closed and there will be no consideration or combining of the businesses," Seto stated before ending the call abruptly. Mokuba silently rooted for him before closing the hidden door. He had to get to his lessons and he didn't want to listen in on Seto any more anyway. It took him a few minutes to crawl out of his hiding place and to get back into the main house. Once he reappeared in the kitchen, right under the cook's nose, he grabbed a piece of fruit and ran for the library, which he hoped he could beat his tutors to. Unfortunately for him he didn't. As punishment for being a few minutes late they made him stay a half hour longer.

During the hours in his lessons, Mokuba couldn't help but think about what he secretly heard. One thought lead to another and eventually he was focusing more and that conversation than his work, which his tutors noticed and kept attempting to snap him out of. It would work for a time but, give him a few moments, and he'd end up back with the thoughts. Between what Dr. Mori told him and what he heard in that room his thoughts took off. If one person wanted Seto to marry his daughter who could say how many other people wanted to do the same thing, or had tried! And what about Seto? Had he ever proposed something like that before? Or could he have ever wanted to be with someone else? What if this person didn't give up and kept trying to marry Seto until he finally gave in and did and just got crabbier? And what if someone else wanted to marry him or something and he was gay and they convinced him to and it just made him worse?

Eventually these thoughts were too much for Mokuba and he jumped up from his lessons and started to run out of the room. His tutors called after him but he just waved off their yells for him to return. "I can't! This is more important!" he yelled back before leaving the room all together. The three tutors looked at each other and sighed before cleaning up and getting ready to leave. Mokuba was already gone from the room but he stopped by the main staircase and looked around. He wasn't sure where to go. If he went to Seto then he'd get in trouble for spying on him and wouldn't be able to spy on him anymore. If he went to Dr. Mori she's just get mad at him for spying and then would probably tell Seto about the hiding spot. The only person he could talk to was Jounouchi. And that's where he went.

As soon as he got upstairs he turned to the right and ran toward Jounouchi's room. Unlike usual, Mokuba didn't knock on the door. He quickly turned the knob and tried to just walk in but it was locked and that worried Mokuba. He started to knock on the door but it quickly became a bang until Jounouchi finally opened the door, revealing an upset Mokuba. Before he could say anything the young boy ran past him and jumped on the bed, sitting there and glaring at nothing in particular. Jounouchi, rather confused at this point, closed the door behind him and walked over to the bed. He was finally dressed in his day clothes, since he woke up after his nap feeling better, and slipped his hands into his pockets as he watched the younger boy's anger. "Hey, what's going on now?" he asked as with a frown. Mokuba just looked up at him and his glare turned into worried, wide eyes.

"Jounouchi someone wants to marry Seto!" Jounouchi's chest tightened for a moment and his mouth went dry. He shook his head a bit, trying to ignore the reaction and forced a smile on his face.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"No way! He said no, but what if more people want to? What if someone comes in here and tries to take over and he just says yes because it's a good business thing but he's not happy and just gets grumpier and grumpier?!" he ranted with a paranoid gaze. Jounouchi grabbed his shoulders and shook him slightly.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down Moki! Look, why are you so worried about this? Kaiba said no, and no one's going to force him to do anything. And, let's face it, he's going to be grumpy forever," Jounouchi said as he tried to calm the younger boy down. Mokuba just frowned and shook his head franticly.

"No, no way! He could happy, I know he could because he was and now he's all grumpy because everyone hates him and just wants his money or something and all he really needs is someone to be there for him besides me or Dr. Mori or the bodyguards. And I don't want him to marry any weird person who's going to try to take my place at KaibaCorp and take all his money and just use him like other people! I want him to be with someone like you!" Mokuba yelled before he jumped off the bed and hugged Jounouchi, who slowly knelt down and returned the hug-though he was shocked speechless. Mokuba hid his face in Jounouchi's shoulder and kept shaking his head, though he didn't cry. Jounouchi couldn't say a word; he was just surprised by everything Mokuba was saying.

"Mokuba…what do you mean? That doesn't make any sense," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"I heard your friends," he mumbled into Jounouchi's shoulder, "talking about how you're gay." Jounouchi's face lit up crimson and his eyes got dark. Mokuba noticed how his body got ridged and took a step back. "…Jounouchi…?"

"…Who told you that…?" he murmured quietly, his head staying in a downward tilt. Mokuba frowned, wondering if he said something wrong.

"The tall one…uh…Honda," he mentioned as he tilt his head, trying to look at Jounouchi's face to see what was wrong. He jumped back, however, when Jounouchi jumped up with his fists raised and ignored the pain warping through his body.

"I'm going to kill that bastard!" he howled before he went over to the bag he had in the corner and started hunting for his phone, which he threw in there that morning when he wanted to go back to taking a nap. Mokuba just watched, surprised, and sitting on the edge of the bed as Jounouchi pulled out the phone and called Honda. He didn't realize that they were still in school, however, or he didn't care. All he cared about was getting Honda on the phone right then and there, and he was prepared to continue calling until he was answered, which he did. It wasn't until the third phone call that Honda finally answered the phone in a panicked voice.

"_Jono, what the hell's going on? Are you okay? Where are you? We were expecting you at school, did something happen? I was about to sue Kaiba for killing you with his driving!_" Honda said as soon as he answered the phone, trying to make a joke so long as Jounouchi was alright. The only issue was Jounouchi wasn't alright. He was fuming.

"You piece of shit," he started in a low whisper, trying to be mindful of Mokuba. It didn't last long. "I told you not to tell anyone, _ever_ and you go and talk about it out in the open anyway?! I swear, I'm going to kick your ass so hard you'll be able to beat Anzu to America, and you'd get there for free!"

"_Whoa, what the hell are you talking about man? I didn't do anything? Where are you?_" In the background Jounouchi could hear the worried voices of Anzu and Yuugi, but he didn't care. He was so pissed off he was prepared to convince one of Kaiba's drivers to take him to Domino.

"Why were you talking to everyone about me and my…" he stopped for a second, not wanting to say it at first. Eventually he just let out an exasperated sigh and grumbled it out. "…about me being gay?! You had no right to do that, Honda. We had a deal!" On the other side of the phone Honda grew quiet. Since Anzu and Yuugi did as well they either heard Jounouchi, or Honda left them so he could hear.

"_Look, they were asking and I figured they should know! I'm sorry alright, but how did you even find out? We were quiet and away from everyone!_"

"You weren't away from _Mokuba_!" he yelled, finally not bothering to cover his voice.

"…_He heard…?_"

"Yea, he heard, he heard _everything_ you were saying I'm sure," Jounouchi said with a sneer as he started walking around the room. Mokuba just watched him.

"_Dude, I…I'm sorry. We didn't know he was there! If he was I would never have told Yug and Anzu about your thing with Kaiba._" Jounouchi stopped mid-step and nearly fell down before catching himself against the nearby wall. He backed up until he was leaning against it and now Mokuba could clearly see his crimson face and wide eyes.

"…You…said…what?" His eyes darted over to Mokuba and his face changed to a deeper shade of red if possible. He quickly turned around and started talking into the corner of the wall. "I can't believe you did that! I told you it wasn't true anyway! Do you realize what could happen, you dumbass?"

"_I'm sorry! We didn't know he was there! And I know, I just didn't believe you and, I mean come on dude Yug guessed it so I just answered. We thought we were alone. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said shit._" Jounouchi pushed his hair back with his hand and let his forehead rest on the sea-foam green colored wall. "_…Can we talk about this in person? Where are you?_"

"…Kaiba's…I'm back at Kaiba's…."

"…_Shit…I'm sorry._" Jounouchi just shook his head, even though Honda couldn't see him.

"I…I've gotta go…. If you tell anyone else I will destroy you ten times over, you hear me?!" He waited for Honda to agree before he hung up the phone and slipped it in his pocket. With his face still a crimson shade he turned around and looked at Mokuba, who stared back at him. Although he couldn't hear Honda's side of the conversation, Mokuba was able to guess what parts of the conversation were about. "Uh…Mokuba about that…."

"Was he lying?" Mokuba asked as he sat there, his legs dangling off the edge of the bed. "About you being gay…or you liking Seto." Jounouchi's heart jumped again and he swore he was going to have a heart attack if this kept up. He didn't know how to answer so instead he just stayed silent and scratched the back of his head, trying to think of something. "I promise I won't tell Seto. I just want to know…." Jounouchi just stared at the younger boy for a bit before sighing and walking over to the bed. Instead of sitting by him, the blond carefully lowered himself to the ground so his back was against the bed and he could look at anything but Mokuba.

"Well, Honda's a blab anyway. No, he wasn't lying."

"About anything?"

"I…don't know what exactly he said, so I can't answer that." Mokuba pouted. He wasn't going to let Jounouchi just dance around the question.

"Do you like my brother?" Jounouchi flinched. He really didn't want to answer that. Part of him was about to just give Mokuba the same answer he gave Honda when he asked, but he knew Mokuba wouldn't accept that.

"You won't tell a soul?" He really felt stupid for trusting some kid, but at this point he had no choice. If he didn't then Mokuba could run off and tell everyone, including Kaiba, and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. But that wasn't Mokuba's plan, and he decided to take this promise very seriously. He slid off the bed and sat on the floor, facing Jounouchi, and nodding while crossing his heart with his finger.

"I promise I won't tell anyone! Not one soul." Jounouchi sighed and nodded.

"Yea, I guess I do then," he mumbled as his cheeks grew red again. He didn't like admitting it. Admitting it meant it was true, and that meant Kaiba could piss him off easier than usual, or upset him in some other way easier than someone else. It just meant everything had to be complicated. Mokuba didn't think of any of that, he just grinned.

"Good!" Jounouchi just stared at him, confusion clear on his face as his honey toned eyes widened. Mokuba just smiled.

"Why is that…good?" Jounouchi asked as he looked away. He really hated it when people saw him blushing. Mokuba just laughed a little.

"Didn't you hear me before? I said I'd rather Seto be with someone like you anyway!" Jounouchi didn't know what to say. He was just, honestly, confused.

"Uh, why?" For a second Jounouchi wondered if this was Mokuba's way of telling him that Kaiba was gay. He doubted it, but he supposed there was a possibility. Mokuba just shrugged, however.

"I…" he didn't know how to put it, so he shrugged again and kept it this time. "I don't want you to leave, and I think you could help me cheer him up."

"I…could what?" He really was confused at this point, but he was sure of one thing; Mokuba didn't want him to leave. It really hit home with Jounouchi. At this point Mokuba was starting to become rather important to him, since he spent most of his time with him, and it would be like leaving his sister all over again if he had to go back to not hanging out with the kid every now and then.

"Well…I don't know if Seto's gay…but I do know he needs friends…so I have an idea!" Jounouchi wasn't so sure about this, but he figured he'd go along.

"What?"

"If you help me cheer up Seto, I'll help you get on his good side! And, if he is gay, I can tell you and you'll already be on his good side so…."

"You…would…?" he just looked at Mokuba for a second before nodding. "I'm in." The two exchanged grins and thumbs up before Mokuba jumped up and Jounouchi slowly pulled himself up. "Well, I'm hungry, want to go get something to eat?"

"Yea! But you still have to eat that weird stuff."

"Come on! Really?" he whined as he followed a laughing Mokuba out of the room.

* * *

The two may have made a deal with one another about what was to come in the Kaiba mansion, but they had no idea what truly awaited them. There would be no moment of ease for the two in their goals especially not with an unexpected visitor appearing outside of the mansion at that very moment. Driving up the long road toward the mansion, a white car gleamed with a cross and rose symbol on the side. As soon as it stopped in front of the gates a driver quickly came out and opened the door, holding it for whoever sat inside. It would be then that the security cameras on the gates caught sight of a young woman with long black hair stepping out of the car, her leg spreading through the side slit of her long red dress, and glancing around in a most pleased manor. Her bright green eyes caught one of the cameras and she waved before walking up to the gates and pressing the intercom.

"_Yes?"_

"I have a meeting with Seto Kaiba under the name of Mishura," she said in a savory tone toward the speaker before standing there and waiting for the gates to allow her entrance.

* * *

**I want you all to understand that my least favorite character of all time is joining in. I hate this person. -.- Can you guess who? lol**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to hearing from you all!**


	10. The Visitor

**Hey guys! Sorry that this took longer than I expected. This morning my headphones broke and I have to listen to a certain playlist in order to write this lol!**

**Now we're all good and you get to meet our new 'friend'. If you want to call her that.**

**Enjoy the story about things I don't own!**

* * *

"Sir, there is someone by the name of Mishura at the gate requesting to see you. They stated they have an appointment with you." Shun stood at the doorway to Seto's office and waited for his orders as the brunette thought over the information. He knew, already, that there was something going on. His meeting with the Mishura's had been that morning via a video call and there was no reason for anyone to actually come to his home or to even know he was here rather than at KaibaCorp. Since he wanted to know what was going on he nodded to Shun.

"Let them in," he looked away from Shun and quickly went back to his work on the computer in front of him. He had finally caught up with all of his paperwork and was now simply working on a new program that his so-called experts had compromised. Since they were all fired by now it was up to him to fix it. Honestly, it didn't look like that hard of a program to crack but that was why they were fired. Incompetent fools.

Shun left him to his work and went into the security room under the stairs where cameras, directed throughout the house and property, were sending feed to constantly. He could see, on one of his many screens, the young woman waiting to enter the mansion and looking none too pleased about being kept waiting for so long. By the looks of it she had lost her coy patience and was now taking to pressing the intercom excessively. Shun just shook his head. He didn't feel right about letting this woman in but orders were orders. He pressed the receiver button and answered her constant bickering. "Master Kaiba is waiting for you inside." He ignored her rude comment in response as he pressed the gate button, which slowly forced the iron bars keeping the young woman out to recede. He watched as she walked past the gate and left her driver behind. He radioed in one of the maids to go and escort the driver to the garages where he could wait until the meeting was over.

The young woman leaving her driver behind didn't care what he did or where he went. She completely forgot he even existed as she finally got her wish and walked down the long path from the gate to the mansion itself. Her emerald eyes gleamed in the mid-day sunlight, reflecting her happiness with the situation and something else. There was something more behind those eyes of hers and what it was, exactly, was too difficult to pin down. Perhaps it was the feeling of accomplishment for slipping within the mansion without really having an appointment or it was simply the greed which brought her there. Either way it gave her a tempting gaze that had some staring at her and others were shying away for various reasons. It didn't faze her, however, and she began to wonder around, searching for her target.

It was around this moment that Mokuba and Jounouchi were coming down the stairs, heading for the kitchen while still in mid argument. Jounouchi hadn't noticed the slender female who stalked around the foyer as if she already owned the place, which was her goal. Mokuba, however, did and he stood upon the last step he had taken and stared at her. When he noticed the younger boy wasn't arguing with him anymore, he stopped and turned around. He traced Mokuba's stare back to the young woman, who had noticed the other two by now. She smiled, though in her mind she was attempting to deduce who they were. It only took her a few moments to remember the research she had done on the Kaiba family, including Seto Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba Kaiba, who she figured was the short, black haired boy. The blond, however, was not in her records. By the looks of his clothes she could tell he was no one of importance and probably just the child of a maid or something who had invaded the space without permission.

"Moki, what's wrong?" Jounouchi whispered as he walked back up a few steps to talk with Mokuba. He kept glancing back at the young woman and her odd appearance. She almost looked like a porcelain doll that his sister had, one that was designed of a traditional Chinese girl. Only this woman was far from being some girl.

"…I…don't know who she is…but what if she's…," he mumbled to Jounouchi, who remembered their conversations a few moments ago. If this was one of the women Mokuba believed wanted to marry Kaiba then neither of the boys were going to like her. She was invading heavily guarded territory, but she didn't seem to understand that and if she did she simply didn't care.

"You must be Mokuba!" she squealed gleefully. The sound made Mokuba's face flush and he almost looked sick. She didn't seem to notice, or she didn't care, since he was nearly as important as Seto was to her plans. If she couldn't take the older brother with her charms and _assets_ then she'd have to take him through the younger brother's trust. She just never thought she'd be lucky enough to meet the younger Kaiba so quickly. "It's really nice to meet you!"

"Uh…who are you?" Mokuba said as he leaned toward Jounouchi a bit. The woman looked like she was going to pounce on him at any moment and he knew why too. He hated people like that. Jounouchi made sure to sand a step or two below him so he was between Mokuba and the woman.

"Oh, how silly of me!" she explained as she watched the nobody shifting uncomfortably. "I'm Kamiko Mishura, but you can call me Kamiko! I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on," she added at the end for good measure. She was quite prepared to keep herself close to this mansion at all times. Mokuba just looked more and more ill the longer the woman spoke.

"O-oh…okay…let's go," he mumbled to Jounouchi while pulling on his sleeve. The blond nodded and began walking down the stairs with Mokuba when Kamiko quickly put an arm between the two of them as Jounouchi passed her. Mokuba jumped back, nearly falling over the stairs, while Jounouchi quickly turned around and had to restrain himself from pushing her out of the way.

"Mokuba, Mokuba, don't you know that you shouldn't play with the help? It's not proper for a little boy of your status," she mentioned as if she were a scolding mother. Instead of looking pale this time, Mokuba just looked angry.

"Jounouchi's not the help! And what do you know; you probably don't have any trust worth or fun people who work for your family anyway!" His anger at the intruder's goals, which he knew only because of his spying earlier, boiled out of him. Kamiko's once pleasant features turned sour and ugly. She raised her hand, as if she were going to strike the child, when Jounouchi grabbed it.

"I think you're looking for someone else right? I doubt he'd be happy to see you being so rude to his brother so why don't you get lost." Kamiko stared at him before yanking herself away and quickly rubbing her arm off on her dress.

"How dare someone like you touch me! You good for nothing slob! I'll make sure you don't last here long!" She turned and stormed off down the first hall she could find with her eyes aflame. How dare the brat and his servant be so rude to her! Of all people it was to her! They would be sorry. Oh they would be sorry. Once she had Kaiba wrapped around her finger she'd dispose of both of them!

"I hate people like her!" Jounouchi growled as he took Mokuba's arm in a secure grip and continued walking toward the kitchen as if he were afraid the woman would be back to kidnap Mokuba like almost everyone else who had something to do with Kaiba did. While they walked Mokuba just stared over his shoulder in the direction Kamiko had gone, which happened to be toward Seto's office. He was afraid his brother would actually like her and they'd be stuck with her forever. He obviously had no faith in Seto's judgment.

"Jounouchi, what if she…what if Seto…."

"Your brother might be a dumbass but he hates people and in this case it's probably a good thing," he grumbled as they finally got to the kitchen. Mokuba looked down and frowned again. "What's wrong?" he asked as he looked back at the boy. The cook glanced over at them before he began preparing their lunches without a word. Jounouchi saw this and took the chance to bring Mokuba over to a small table in the corner, which they had claimed over the past few weeks.

"She's the one that had her dad ask Seto if he wanted to marry her. What…what if she convinces him to join the companies? And then they get married and then I have to deal with her for the rest of my life and you'll probably be banned from the house forever!" He just looked panicked as his thoughts jumped all over the place. Jounouchi just snapped his fingers a few times in front of the kid's face until he looked up and listened.

"So what if she's the person mentioned earlier. Did Kaiba say yes to the offer?"

"No…."

"Then why the hell would someone as stubborn as him change his mind? What could she offer that he doesn't already have or could easily get? Unless she shows up with a real Blue Eyes White Dragon, I doubt he's going to change any opinion about her he already made." By the end of the little explanation Jounouchi got Mokuba to giggle and shrug.

"I guess you're right. I just hope she doesn't stick around. I already hate her." Jounouchi reached across the table and ruffled the boy's hair with his hand as he grinned.

"I'm with you on that one!" The two chuckled a bit until the cook came over with two plates. One had the odd food that Jounouchi had to eat while the other had a simple toasted sandwich. When Jounouchi saw his food all he could do was groan and lean back in his chair. "All I want is a burger! Is that such a bad thing?" he grumbled. The cook and Mokuba both nodded at him until he sighed and just started eating.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the house, Kamiko had finally found an obedient maid who told her where Kaiba's office was. She couldn't believe how the people in this mansion worked! None of them gave her any respect and just left her to wander around on her own until she scared one of the dumb things. And even alone she knew she was being watched as if they didn't trust her! How ridiculous, not trusting her in her own home. Or what would be her home soon. Very soon, if she could just convince Seto Kaiba that a public relationship with her was the best thing for both of them. But first she had to get behind this door that blocked her path. That seemed easy enough. She walked up to the door and let her long fingers curl into a small fist, which she used to quietly tap at the door.

The small tapping on the door wouldn't have gotten Seto's attention if not for its obsessive repetition. For whatever reason, he suddenly had a sick feeling in the bit of his stomach and he doubted it had anything to do with the injury on his side. If he had his way he would be left alone for the rest of the day so he could avoid people as he wished and rest a bit until the bruises at least began to heal.

"Enter," he said in his normal, cold tone. A moment later the door quickly opened and Kamiko rushed in. She had a bright smile on her face as she tossed back a few locks of her long hair, trying to seem as attractive as she could in the first few seconds of their meeting. It failed, however, since Seto's eyes were focused on the computer screen in front of him. He didn't even seem to notice the door had been opened yet. Determined, she walked up to his desk and placed her hands along the edge, curling her fingers so her nails clashed against the polished surface. She leaned forward in such a way as to exaggerate her body's more endowed8 locations but Seto didn't even bother to look up when her shadow crossed his computer screen. This caused her smile to flicker into a sneer and back as she cleared her throat to no avail. Eventually she simply, and forcefully, put her hand in front of his face as she replaced the smile on her face once more.

"Hello, Seto! My name is-"

"Kamiko Mishura," he interrupted in an icy tone before pushing her hand away as if it were some bug dangling from the ceiling. "If you're going to waste my time you're going to address me correctly," he demanded without so much as glance from him up until that point. When Seto did look up from his computer to glare at her, she couldn't help but stare back with wide eyes. The icy feeling she got from the glare shot through her very soul and she visibly shivered against her own intentions. The dominance in his voice, however, had her squirming inside and warming up rather quickly.

"M-my apologies, M-Mister Kaiba," she murmured as the hand he pushed away slowly sunk to her side. She bit her lip and stood there, trying to figure out what her next step was. After all the research she did on the Kaiba family and their fortune didn't seem to be helping her in this situation. She had heard about his glares, of course, but experiencing one was certainly a different story.

"What do you want?" he asked after she had been silent for far too long. She really was just a nuisance at this point. No matter what, she was going to win this battle

"I wanted to speak with you about combining our companies," she mentioned, her voice changing from bright to sensual as the sentence went on. Since she was still standing it was easy enough for her to lean forward again, hoping to catch his attention this time. Whether or not Seto noticed, however, was void since he looked back to his computer screen and ignored her movements.

"I already made my decision on that. The answer is still no." She frowned but wasn't going to give up just because he didn't like the idea.

"Oh, but it would do both of our companies so much good! Think about all of the good publicity we could get from the relationship." Seto held up his hand to stop her from talking, which she grimaced at but eventually did.

"You and your company have nothing to offer me and I have no reason to need someone like you for publicity or otherwise." Her face sunk as she thought about what he just said to her. A few moments later she stomped her heeled boots on the ground and balled her fists, her petite arms shaking with her embarrassment and anger.

"I-I don't understand how you could say anything like that! KaibaCorp can't always be the best company around! Eventually your competitors will rise up in popularity and will start taking some of your so called loyal members! Now is the time to make bonds and connections! To share the wealth. Think of all the money the two of us could make together," she eventually calmed down, her arms stopping in their shake and her fingers uncurling from the fists she had dared to make in Seto's presence. As she spoke she walked, more like sauntered, around the desk until she was standing next to Seto and leaning against the edge of the desk behind her. The way she positioned her legs let the slit of her dress fall open, showing the side of her long lean leg. Seto only noticed when he looked her over for invading his personal space. "Isn't that at least something? You may already be rich but think about how much more you could have…that we could make, together," she whispered the last word as her hand landed on his bicep and she looked down at him with a flutter of her eyes.

"Saving Mishura from the gutter your father's put it in isn't worth my time," Seto explained as he looked down at her hand for a moment before grabbing it. Luckily she had touched the arm that lead to his injured hand, which meant his other hand could take hold of her wrist. Once it was trapped under his cool fingers he threw her with what strength he could muster from his sitting position. He sent her stumbling backwards until she nearly hit the window behind her. As she stood there, bracing herself against the wall, he stood and pushed back the opened end of his white jacket before walking over to her. She stared at him as he finally looked her in the eyes, his icy pools threatening to drown her and hers simply rivers of greed that sickened him. "If all you want is money then go earn some. Just being associated with KaibaCorp doesn't make you or your company anything more than parasites. Make something of yourselves or crash and burn. Whatever you do, do it out of my office and off my property. Now." He then turned from her and opened the door, which he leaned against as he waited for her to leave.

It took her a moment to understand what had just happened, that she had just been turned down for her beauty, her mind, and even her intelligence. To be honest she couldn't get enough of it. He was making it so difficult, far more difficult than any other man had ever tried to do before. He said no, where others crumbled and begged. She liked it, and it made her demand to have him for herself even more. But, for now, she saw there was no hope and so she began to slowly walk toward the door. Her eyes watched him the whole time, her heart even fluttering as she got closer to him. She vowed, then and there, that he would be hers. Even if she had to kick everyone around her down until she had what she wanted.

"Fine, but I'll be back. No man can say no to a woman like me forever, Mister Kaiba. Eventually you'll agree simply for the want that you and all men harbor." She whispered when she drew close to him. In fact she was nearly pressing her body into his, her fingers trailing down the tight black shirt he wore and making his glare intensify. She winked before he said anything else and walked out of the room and toward the foyer so she could leave again. Seto didn't bother watching her leave. Instead he closed the door behind her, nearly slamming it, before locking it and getting back to his work.

Mokuba and Jounouchi were on their way to meet up with the others, whom Mokuba had convinced to go pick up again, when they saw a red faced Kamiko leaving the mansion. The two glanced at each other and grinned before rushing toward the door after her. "Bye!" they yelled childishly while waving like fools. Kamiko just looked over her shoulder and glared, expecting them to cower back but neither of them did. Seto was far better at sending ice and fear into their hearts than she ever could. Since even that failed her she no longer could stand being on the premises without rethinking her strategy for getting Kaiba to fall for her. In no way was this the end. Oh no, she would be back. For now she waited for her car to come around, which she had paged as she left the house, and noticed a KaibaCorp vehicle pull up instead. At first she wondered if Kaiba had changed his mind and she was going to be given a complimentary ride home form someone other than her idiot of a driver but she was clearly wrong.

As the car pulled up and came to a stop Shun stepped out and walked past Kamiko and the others to give a report to Kaiba now that he saw the meeting was over. Moments later, three more people piled out of the car, which caused Kamiko to grimace and step back in disgust by the culture of peasants that seemed to flock to the Kaiba mansion. The fact they got in easier and quicker than she did just served to piss her off more. She made a mental note to ban all disgusting creatures from the property once she had the control she knew she one day would possess. They didn't even notice her until her car finally pulled up and she quickly got in the back seat and instructed them to quickly bring her home. While the three stared at the car that left, Jounouchi and Mokuba were holding onto the doorframe to keep from falling over while they laughed. They thought they had won.

"What was that about?" Yuugi asked as he walked over to the laughing pair. He waved to Mokuba, who smiled back, before looking up at Jounouchi.

"Oh, she's just some dumb lady who thinks she can get whatever she wants from my big brother!" Mokuba explained as he waved to the other two that walked up behind Yuugi. Anzu seemed pleased enough just seeing Jounouchi was alright, but Mokuba could tell Honda felt rather odd being there.

"Jounouchi, you're looking good. I guess nothing happened when Kaiba brought you home?" Anzu asked curiously as the group followed Jounouchi and Mokuba into the house. Instead of going outside or into Jounouchi's room they all decided to sit in the living room. Mokuba asked the maids to make sure no one came into the room while they were talking, since he was sure something was bound to happen.

"Eh, I wouldn't say nothing," he murmured as he subconsciously scratched at his side.

"What do you mean?" Yuugi asked with a concerned look.

"A few of my stitches re-opened, that's all."

"Oh, so that's why you're back here right?" Honda asked as he fiddled with his thumbs. He still felt bad for what he found out earlier and every time he glanced at Mokuba he felt worse. "We thought you'd be back home. Jounouchi had his plans for how he was going to kick Honda's ass, but not just yet. For now he just shook his head.

"Nah, Dr. Mori says I've got to stay here for a while before I can go back."

"Her exact words were 'If he goes back to Domino and opens his stiches he can forget about me helping him. I don't even know how to drive so he'll just die'," Mokuba explained with a giggle that had the other three paling. Jounouchi just rolled his eyes.

"Yea and I don't feel like being left for dead, so I'm just going to wait until some of the bigger ones heal better."

"Well, we're glad you look better at least. How are things here anyway?" Anzu asked as she looked around. Everything was so beautiful that she couldn't help but feel jealous of the Kaiba's and of Jounouchi for being surrounded by so many nice things.

"Eh, things are alright. They'll be better when I can finally eat a burger again!" he whined as he leaned back against the couch in a careful way. Mokuba, who was sitting next to him, just rolled his eyes along with the others. They knew that was all he ever talked about, whether he was physically able to eat one or not.

"So," Honda began again. "When do you think you'll be back in school?" Mokuba looked between the two at this question. He never thought of Jounouchi going back to the school with the others. After all, he remembered Seto graduating high school when he was a lot younger so he just forgot. Jounouchi just shrugged.

"Like I said, it depends on Mori. When she says I can go without worrying about ripping myself open I'll be back." Honda leaned forward slightly, and the others in the room followed as he asked a slightly somber question.

"Does that mean you'll leave here too, when you're better?" Jounouchi looked at him and thought about it. He never really wondered about when he would leave accept when he wanted to rush off and help his father. What would happen? Mokuba wanted to say he could stay but that wasn't his call.

"I don't know. I guess I'll probably go home, I mean I can't stay here forever right?" he joked before giving Mokuba a smile. The others frowned. Honda almost couldn't help himself. Almost. And then his resolve snapped.

"You could stay if the situation goes in your favor," he mentioned quietly as he nodded his head in Jounouchi's direction as if he were hinting at something spectacular. Jounouchi's face lit up red once again before he sat up and raised his fist.

"Don't I already owe you an ass beating?" he snarled. Mokuba just sat next to the angry blond and smiled. He could stay forever, if things went right! That was the point. He just had to plan a way to get it to happen without being cruel, like Dr. Mori said he was earlier.

"Hey, hey don't hit me! I brought you something from school anyway!" Jounouchi narrowed his eyes but let his fist fall into a hand against his knee.

"What?" Honda held out his bag and Jounouchi took it before slipping the top flap open. His face paled and it was his turn to look sick. "What is this shit?!"

"All the homework you've missed!" Honda said with a grin. Jounouchi dropped the bag on the couch behind him before jumping up and lunging at Honda, who was expecting such and had already gotten up and started running around one of the couches. Mokuba started laughing while Yuugi just watched on with big, worried eyes. Anzu, on the other hand, was just shaking her head.

"You two will never grow up!" she yelled over the commotion of Jounouchi's grunts from running into or around something in a way he really shouldn't have. Still, Honda kept dodging him thanks solely to those scars slowing Jounouchi down. The two had a few close calls as they nearly came in contact with priceless artifacts that could have shattered and been lost to history forever. Luckily they would stop fighting for a second just to steady the object. The commotion, however, was enough to finally get Seto's attention from his office and he slowly made his way toward the living room. When he arrived no one really noticed him, since they were focused on Jounouchi and Honda who were fighting by the window on the other side of the room. Seto crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame and watched until he saw Jounouchi glance over and take a double take, finally noticing him. The pause caused Honda to land a retaliating blow to the side of the head, sending him back a few steps, before Jounouchi stopped by holding himself up on the wall. He glared at Honda and prepared to strike again when Seto finally spoke up.

"If you break anything it's being added to your debt, Jounouchi." The whole room paused for a moment as different thoughts went through everyone's brains. From wondering when Kaiba appeared, to why Jounouchi had a debt and even to why Kaiba was calling Jounouchi by his name rather than an insult seemed to crowd the air around everyone but the blond and Seto. Jounouchi sighed and turned to Honda, pointing at him dramatically at first before the quick movement pulled at his stitches and made him curl over in pain. He caught himself before he fell, but everyone was watching him. Well, everyone besides Anzu. Anzu's eyes were glued to Kaiba because she saw something in his eyes she swore she must have imagined. When Jounouchi nearly fell she could have sworn Kaiba's eyes widened slightly-barely noticeable in fact- and he even shifted forward as if he wanted to check on him, himself. She couldn't help but stare until Kaiba glanced in her direction and coldness in his eyes told her she must have imagined it.

Now that Jounouchi was able to catch his breath he tried the pose again, though this time he was a lot slower about it. "When…I get back to school, you're dead meat!" he murmured before making his way back to the couch to sit down. Once he did he glanced over his shoulder to see if Kaiba was still there but he had already left.

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**So what do you guys think? Poor Jounouchi and his ever raising debt. And I wonder what Mokuba wants to scheme about next...hmm...**

**As always reviews are love but I'd also enjoy hearing any suggestions or questions anyone has! If you want to see something message me and it might get put in!**


	11. Homework

**Hey everyone, your lovely friend Cy here to apologize for the wait!**

**I know I have some people who were looking forward to this chapter and I'm sorry it took so long to get done!**

**I kept dying after work . so It was hard for me to work on this so this morning, when I woke up early just to get it done, I decided you guys deserve a really long chapter! So here you go, I hope you all enjoy!**

**I own only what I create.**

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"Debt, huh?" Honda asked to break the silence that hung in the room. Although he tried to hide the grin that was slowly creeping across his face, he obviously failed and Jounouchi just glared. He sat down in a lone chair, besides the couch that held Yuugi and Anzu, and watched as his best friend slowly returned to the other couch across from the others, where Mokuba sat. The young Kaiba was just giggling gleefully at the teasing bickering that went on in the group. He wondered, silently, if one day he could have friends like that too.

"Shut up," Jounouchi mumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the blush couch. Mokuba just rolled his eyes and sat Indian style in his little corner. Honda looked over at him for a moment, wondering if he should hold back his comment or not. He eventually decided not to hold it back since Mokuba already knew that Honda thought Jounouchi liked Kaiba and obviously didn't seem to have an issue with it.

"So, how do you plan on paying back this so called 'debt' with the wealthiest guy in Japan?" Honda whispered with a full-on grin and an added wink for good measure. Jounouchi's eyes narrowed into a sharp, golden glare as his fists curled into his sides, his arms still crossed. The others in the room just sat back and watched the show. After all, Anzu was tired of convincing them to stop and Yuugi would just get in the way like he usually did. As for Mokuba, he just thought it was funny.

"Your ass is done when I get back to school," Jounouchi stated with a sneer as he thought over what Honda was claiming. "…And someone's got to have more money than him," he added with a mumble under his breath.

"Well," Honda started as he pushed himself forward and sat on the edge of the couch. "Why don't we finish this now? We can go outside and I can show you whose ass is getting kicked! After all, you've obviously lost your touch!" It wasn't until the last bit that Jounouchi had enough. He shot up, buckling slightly from the pain in his side but refusing to sit back down or fall. Honda, grinning, began to stand and was fully prepared to show his friend who was boss.

"You could, but you won't," Dr. Mori said from the doorway, which she had been passing by at the time of the conversation. Everyone looked up at her and stared, including Jounouchi and Honda. Knowing she was going to end up dishing it out to him, Jounouchi slowly sat back down and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands molding into a tight ball as he tried to calm down. He was prepared to punch Honda's lights out the second she left, and she seemed to know that.

"Who are you?" Anzu asked after a moment. Dr. Mori entered the room and stood behind the couch which held Mokuba and Jounouchi. She leaned forward and gripped both of Jounouchi's shoulders tightly, nearly painfully as her nails nipped through his clothing and poked at his skin, before pulling him back against the couch. He didn't even fight her. Instead he could only gulp at the knowledge that she was going to make him pay if he did something wrong. Mokuba already told him how she could be.

"I am Dr. Mori, and my patient is in no condition to get into any more fights, whether he's lost is touch or not." Her gaze moved from the others and then down to Jounouchi, who almost looked as if he were afraid of her though not quite. "And if my dear patient gets his ass kicked again I'm letting him experience the changing of stitches without painkillers or anesthetic." Her words were sharp and Jounouchi could have sworn she was actually cutting him with something as he glanced toward her without moving his head. Hell, he was afraid she'd cut his head off if he did. Now he understood what Mokuba told him earlier about how even Seto didn't mess with her.

"That's just cruel!" Anzu yelled with her hand going over her mouth. She looked horrified by the way Dr. Mori seemed to treat her patients, and by that she meant Jounouchi. The thought of such pain wracking through a body had her skin flushing to a pale, sickly color and she swore she was going to be sick soon if she kept wondering about it. Her thoughts were paused, however, when Dr. Mori's dark eyes rose from Jounouchi's scared cheek to the other female.

"It works and that's all that matters. If it worked for the kid, then it'll work for Blondie," she deduced with a shrug as her fingers continued to keep a sharp grip on Jounouchi's shoulders.

"You did that to Mokuba?!" Yuugi gasped as he stared at her. Up until that point he thought she was rough but now he wondered if she should have even been a doctor still. Mokuba, on the other hand, was trying to get everyone's attention. He shook his head and waved his arms around as he quickly explained.

"No, no way! When Dr. Mori says 'kid' she means Seto."

"It's his name until he grows up," she said coldly as she pushed a few strands of her red hair from her face, tucking them behind her ear. She pushed up her glasses as she looked down at Jounouchi once again. "And, if you two go out one more time and come back hurt, both of you can deal with the pain together because I won't be thinning my supply of pain killers are a couple of dumbasses!"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Jounouchi said as he tried to sink farther into the couch than she was already pushing him. Dr. Mori smiled and finally released his shoulders as she gently pet his head, smoothing a few strands of his hair in the process.

"Good boy! Don't forget your checkup later tonight. Just show up before you get too tired or go to bed." Jounouchi nodded quickly, hoping she would leave with his obedience. She did just that and as soon as she was out of the room and they could no longer hear her heels clicking against the hard floors both Jounouchi and Mokuba sighed in relief. Everyone just looked at one another for a few moments until Yuugi broke the silence.

"What did she mean…about you and Kaiba coming back hurt?" At first Jounouchi just shrugged. He couldn't remember many details about how that day ended, or how the next day really began. It wasn't until he started thinking about Kaiba that the memory of what had happened earlier rushed back into his mind. His face lit up bright red in a flash, rather than gradually growing from a blush, and all he did was remember seeing Seto standing in only a towel and some bandages wrapped around one of his hands and part of his side.

As the thoughts slipped into his mind he just lost connection with everything else and simply slipped into a merry daydream about the other male. He couldn't help but dwell over the scene he had forcefully walked in on and, as awkward as it was, he honestly wished it lasted a little longer than it had. But even this daydream had to end because Mokuba was starting to worry he'd have another nosebleed if he wasn't stopped. So the younger boy began to shake Jounouchi's arm and eventually just kept pushing him back and forth until he finally started to snap out of it.

"Earth to Jounouchi! Hello, anyone home?" Mokuba asked as he knocked against Jounouchi's head with the back of his hand jokingly. The blond shook his head for a moment, expelling the thoughts from his mind for the time being, and looked at Mokuba as confusion fell over his features. He didn't even notice he had zoned out! Now he realized he really should have been paying attention because Yuugi and Anzu were staring at him, confused themselves but smirking a bit, and Honda was curled up into the chair he sat in with his face pushed into the cushions as he tried to muffle his continuous laughter. Jounouchi just glared at him and then at Mokuba, who couldn't help but continue giggling as he returned to his sitting position.

"You all suck," Jounouchi mumbled as he crossed his arms and pouted. He had to loosen his arms after a moment, however, for the wounds on his stomach pinched when he tightened himself up. Yuugi, feeling the worst out of the group for silently teasing Jounouchi about his apparent daydream, spoke up first.

"So, uh he was hurt?" he asked, trying to make sure Jounouchi didn't go off and daydream about whatever he had daydreamed about again. By now Yuugi was starting to agree with Honda about their friend's little crush on the older Kaiba brother. He just couldn't believe it. He honestly thought they hated each other, which made him feel bad for Jounouchi. If Jounouchi liked Kaiba and Kaiba just hated him then that was going to be detrimental to their poor friend's heart and he didn't want to see something like that.

"Uh…I guess," Jounouchi mumbled with a shrug. Mokuba rolled his eyes before answering for the embarrassed blond.

"Seto's hand is hurt and so is his side. They were pretty bad when he got back, but I don't know how he's feeling now." Yuugi nodded as his face scrunched up with worry. His arms crossed and he looked down as he thought about what could have happened when they left Jounouchi with Kaiba. He didn't want to ask for the simple reason that he wasn't sure Jounouchi even remembered-since he didn't seem to know the male was injured. The blond was trying, in fact, to remember everything that happened so he could figure out what was wrong with Kaiba. He remembered bits and pieces of the day but the more he concentrated the more he remembered until he finally sat up and placed his fist in his hand.

"He must have got hurt in the fight!" Jounouchi said with a grin, proud of himself for remembering. Everyone else, except the still snickering Honda, just stared at him.

"What fight?" Anzu quickly asked as she looked from Yuugi to Mokuba to Jounouchi. Mokuba was moving around on the couch so he was sitting on his knees and leaning on Jounouchi's arm for balance.

"Tell us what happened!" Mokuba demanded as he looked up at Jounouchi with big, curious eyes. At first the blond just wanted to say no, that it wasn't their business and he didn't want to talk about it, but the longer it took for him to answer the more Mokuba stared at him like that and the more he just had to sigh.

"Fine," he exasperated in defeat, leaving Mokuba to thrust his fist into the air in triumph. "On one condition," Jounouchi added as he watched Mokuba bounced back down onto the couch in disappointment.

"What?" Yuugi asked as he stared at Jounouchi with the same look in his eyes as Mokuba had moments before. He wanted to know just as much as the others in the room, if not more. He was at most equal in curiosity with Mokuba.

"Keep him quiet!" Jounouchi sneered as he pointed to Honda, who quickly put his hands around his mouth and shook his head.

"I'll be quieter than a mandarin!" Jounouchi was going to rebuttal but he just kind of slopped forward and gave Honda a weird look. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone slowly turned their heads to look at the pointy haired brunette as if they didn't believe what he just said.

"…Why am I friends with an idiot like you?" He asked as he shook his head and shrugged. "Fine, if he'll shut up I guess I can explain what happened…but I don't remember everything so don't push me!" Everyone just scooted forward in their seats and listened. Honda, to make a point about being quiet, kept his hands over his mouth to which Jounouchi just gave him a look and shook his head. "Anyway…I was right about Kaiba not being able to drive!" he suddenly explained as a look of horror crossed his face. "I thought I was going to die! It was horrible!" He was going to explain how Seto was finally caught rushing into something without thinking it through but he realized that would only give Honda something else to snicker about, and he really didn't want to make it seem like he was talking badly about Seto.

"When we got to my apartment he followed me in, saying he wasn't coming back here without fulfilling some promise to Moki over here," he stated as he began calmly telling the story. Mokuba smiled and Jounouchi just ruffled his hair before easing back in his seat and getting to the explanation. "So we went upstairs and as soon as I unlocked the door, Bam! A beer bottle came flying! So, obviously I knew my dad was home. I just thought I'd have to yell at him or something but when we went inside the place was a mess and he was nowhere to be seen. I heard something in the kitchen and I don't know where Kaiba went… I just stopped paying attention to him because in the kitchen were those as- erm," he stopped himself when he remembered Mokuba was there. That was also when he noticed his hand had turned into a painful fist as he spoke, his anger obviously growing with each word. Taking a few deep breaths, he calmed down and went back to his story. "The dumb debt collectors that always come after my dad were in the kitchen with him. They wanted even more money that I didn't have and when I told them I didn't have the money for it they attacked me. Don't remember much other than being on the floor and in a lot of pain. That's when I saw Kaiba fighting them. I must have faded in and out of consciousness because I can only remember bits and pieces after that." He paused for a moment, trying to remember more. Everyone else was just staring at him, even Honda who finally let his hands fall down to his lap. Their emotions were all wandering from surprise, to resentment. And, of course, Jounouchi's three friends felt immeasurable guilt for leaving him in that situation.

"What do you remember?" Mokuba asked after a moment. He wanted to know what happened to his brother and he really wanted to know why. He just didn't understand why Seto would help Jounouchi like that, even if Mokuba did go to him.

"…I can remember him yelling at me about something…and then I remember hearing something hit the wall hard and seeing him picking himself up. And that damn briefcase of his was doing a lot of damage until it got knocked out of his hand. Then the big guy had a gun I think, and I found the brief case and threw it to him…not sure what that was going to do but it's all I could think of doing." He went from looking as if he were concentrating to looking downright annoyed. "Then he opened the briefcase thing and pulled out all this money and just paid the whole thing off right there and then, interest and all! But the guy saw that Kaiba had more money and went to take it when Kaiba just punched him. I think he hurt his hand on that guy's skull because I can remember hearing a loud cracking sound and I didn't think it was that guy." He took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he laid back against the couch. "Then my great dad kicked me out and I don't remember anything else after that." That wasn't completely true. He remembered his father calling Kaiba and fairy and that was just something too funny to ever be forgotten, but he wasn't going to be that ass that told everyone either.

While he relaxed his friends just stared. They were all trying to wrap their heads around what they were just told. Not only had Seto gotten in a fight to help Jounouchi, but he got injured for him and then he paid off Jounouchi's debt? Something wasn't right here. Or something was and they just couldn't believe it. Either way the story really got them thinking about how they were just going to school and going home every day as if nothing had happened, but Jounouchi was here, still injured, and had to be in an awkward situation with Kaiba, even if just because of how much they seemed to hate each other in the past. It made them all feel guilty for not offering him to stay with one of them. None of them would, either, since they knew it was safest for him to stay here for now.

"I wonder why Kaiba's being so….helpful?" Anzu finally mumbled out loud. Yuugi and Honda just nodded, since they had been wondering the same thing. A moment later, however, Yuugi realized something and gasped, causing everyone to look at him.

"You mean…the debt you have with Kaiba is because he paid off the guys for you?" Jounouchi just nodded slowly, not seeing where he was going with this. "Won't that be worse? Kaiba could have you paying him back forever. And what if he doesn't want money?" he suddenly added, making everyone's eyes widen. "He has enough doesn't he? What if there something else he wants instead?"

"Like what?" Mokuba asked, causing Honda to shut his mouth since he had been about to ask the same thing.

"I don't know…Jounouchi has some rare cards but I doubt that's what Kaiba would want. If he did he would have asked already right? Has he asked for anything?" Jounouchi just shook his head again.

"Nah, I haven't really…uh talked with him since coming back…." He mumbled a bit while scratching the back of his head. He still felt bad about how awkward it had been in the mansion between the two since they came back. Between the weird dream Jounouchi had to the whole walking in on him after his shower thing, Jounouchi wasn't sure the two would ever actually stay in one room together for more than a few seconds, if that.

"I don't think Seto wants any of his cards. He's really just interested in beating you, Yuugi." Mokuba mentioned with a shrug. He didn't know what Seto wanted either and he really couldn't guess. "I don't think he wants money or anything like that either. Like you said, we have enough and KaibaCorp is always getting us more than we need. There's gotta be something…."

"Humiliation!" Honda suddenly said as he stood up, startling Anzu who wasn't far from him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jounouchi yelled.

"Think about it! He likes to look down at you and make fun of you for being some street brat; it's obvious that he wants to humiliate you for his amusement!" Jounouchi was about to argue when he saw everyone nodding their heads in agreement.

"That's got to be it," Anzu said with an acceptance nod.

"Sound's right," Yuugi added. Jounouchi and Mokuba just stared at the other three as if they were crazy.

"No way!" Jounouchi said with a glare at his friends. Mokuba nodded in agreement. "Even Kaiba couldn't be that much of a sadist as to put me in debt just to use me for amusement!" His friends just stared at him as if he were crazy. To them it was clear that's exactly what Kaiba would do.

"You guys are too harsh on Seto! He's not like that!" The group just rolled their eyes.

"Of course he's not like that to you, Mokuba. You're his little brother! He's got to be nice to you, it's like an unwritten law or something," Honda explained. Anzu just nodded along. "But for Jono? They've hated each other's guts! Why would he not want to humiliate him now when it's so easy?"

"I bet he'll have Jounouchi doing tricks or something."

"I am not a dog!" Jounouchi yelled as he jumped up and looked over his friends, glaring especially at Anzu who just said he'd be doing tricks. "I'm not going to be doing tricks for anyone! Especially not Kaiba!" He huffed as he stood there, his fists shaking at his sides as if he wanted to just jump at his friends. He wasn't mad with them, however, but rather he was mad at himself for getting stuck in a situation like this. As far as he was concerned, Kaiba was sadistic enough to do just that. He could see himself wandering around the place in a dog suit doing stupid tricks and it made him mad enough to pull at his hair as he shook his head. Mokuba just frowned. He didn't want Jounouchi to get mad at Seto, not when they had finally agreed to help each other out! If the blond was upset then Mokuba wouldn't have a chance to finally have life in the mansion again; to finally get Seto to smile and be happy and to just seem more alive again. That was all Mokuba wanted but the constant teasing of his friends wasn't helping! It was then that Mokuba decided they had to be let in on the situation.

"S-sorry," Anzu said after a moment of silence throughout the room. Everyone knew that Jounouchi hated the way Kaiba treated him but usually he could take a joke about it. They figured they must have pushed him too far.

"Maybe we should get going," Honda offered as he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. Jounouchi just let his hands fall to his side and nodded.

"I think you guys should," he said, which surprised just about everyone including himself. Honestly, he just wanted to be alone to think for once. All of this was just messing with his head and he wasn't sure what he wanted to believe any more. His friends all looked from him to each other and back before nodding.

"We'll see you tomorrow, okay Jounouchi?" Anzu asked as she got up and followed Honda toward the door. Jounouchi just nodded. Yuugi surprised him but walking up to him and running.

"Hey, don't forget to text me alright?" Jounouchi was confused for a moment, trying to remember if he ignored any of Yuugi's texts recently when he realized it was just Yuugi's way of telling him to text in general. Smiling a little, he nodded.

"Will do, Yug." Yuugi smiled and ran over to Honda and Anzu, who were waiting at the door.

"Hey, Jono, see yah tomorrow man. Don't forget to do that homework or you'll be screwed when you get back."

"Thanks man," Jounouchi said as he gave Honda a nod and put his hands in his pockets. The two nodded at each other, silently getting over how they acted toward each other for now. After that the friends all waved their goodbyes and left when Mokuba called Shun over to drive them back to Domino. Once they were gone Mokuba noticed Jounouchi walking up the stairs without a word and quickly followed after him.

"Jounouchi...you aren't mad with Seto are you?" he asked as he followed the older boy up the stairs, stopping when they got to the landing. Jounouchi leaned against the railing that went along the opening of the floor, his back turned toward the foyer below and his hand still in his pockets. His hair fell over his face as his head tilted forward and he thought for a moment, about everything and about nothing all at once until he finally thought of something to say to Mokuba.

"…I don't know. I think I'm more just pissed off at myself…." He shrugged and began to turn, as if he were going to go to his room, when Mokuba grabbed his shirt and kept him from moving.

"Please don't be upset! Seto isn't a bad guy…he just…he doesn't know how to have friends! I don't think that means he's going to humiliate you!" While Jounouchi wanted to believe him, he just wasn't so sure. But, for Mokuba's sake, he nodded and looked around.

"Shit, I forgot the homework downstairs…." He mumbled as he turned to go back down. Mokuba jumped in front of him.

"I'll go!" He said loudly which had the door behind the two slamming open and a very crabby looking Dr. Mori standing there with a cold and harsh glare. Both Mokuba and Jounouchi thought the roof flew away from the mansion as their bodies began to shiver.

"You two are so loud!" she yelled before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Nothing but drama with the lot of you. Why do I stay here," she whined as she looked over her shoulder as if wanting an answer from someone inside. Whatever that person said, she didn't seem to enjoy it. "What are you two doing, yelling in the halls for everyone to listen in on?" Mokuba and Jounouchi exchanged looks before they both turned to her.

"What did you hear?" they asked in near unison as their faces seemed to darken with worry. She just stared at them for a time, blinking here and there in surprise, before a nasty grin cross over her small lips.

"Ooh, something embarrassing going on? Maybe I should tell everything I hear to…oh, I don't' know…the kid." Jounouchi and Mokuba ran up to her and both shook their heads vigorously.

"No, please Dr. Mori!"

"We'll shut up!"

"You had better! And you," she said as she pointed to Jounouchi which made him flinch slightly. "You have two hours before your check up because I have places to be tonight!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Jounouchi bowed, as if he had no other reaction to her words, and she just giggled. Patting his head, and messing with his hair, she turned and went back into her office and closed the door. Jounouchi nearly fell over from the mini heart attack he just had and Mokuba sighed gratefully.

"Uh, I'll go get the stuff Honda brought!"

"O-okay…I'm going to go sit down." He pushed himself back up and split paths with Mokuba as he walked down the hall and into the room that he was using. He didn't feel right about calling it _his_ room, since there was no real reason to think it was. After all, he would be leaving eventually. He just had to stop getting his ass kicked so he could go home. And then he had to convince his dad to let him back in. "Ugh! Why is everything so difficult," he grumbled as he sat on the bed and slowly laid himself down until his head was covered in pillows and his body was stiff as a board. He couldn't even figure out why he was at the Kaiba mansion in the first place, and now he had to figure out how he was going to get home? This just sucked.

"Jounouchi, how much homework do you guys get…this is so heavy!" Mokuba groaned as he pushed Jounouchi's door open and dragged a bag into the room. Jounouchi moved his head so he could see the little Kaiba before shrugging.

"I don't know. I usually don't do it anyway." Mokuba looked surprised as he dragged the stuff over to him.

"Why not?"

"I never had time. I was always working or dealing with someone for messing with someone else…," he answered as he slowly pushed himself up. "But, I can't do much so I might as well try some of this stuff…maybe I could actually pass this year with a decent grade. That would be a first." He reached over and pulled the strap of the bag from Mokuba's grasp and lifted the bag up to the bed. From there he proceeded to dump the contents all across the bed and sighed. He really didn't know where to start.

Mokuba climbed up on the bed and sat next to him while he looked through some of the books Jounouchi had. Since Mokuba didn't have to go through as much tutoring as Seto had, he was only a few years ahead of his age and so hadn't run into most of the things Jounouchi had to focus on, which didn't help the blond at all since he didn't even focus on the things he had to focus on. The two spent the next hour and a half trying to figure out one simple question that neither could even understand, let alone figure out. On more than one occasion Jounouchi had thrown one of the books across the room, where he planned on keeping them until they stopped asking impossible questions.

"You need help," Mokuba stated as he closed one of the books and just put it down on the bed in front of him.

"Yah think?" Jounouchi grumbled as he closed another book and dropped it on the bed. Mokuba tried to figure out what to do. He could ask the tutors to help Jounouchi, but they were annoying and wouldn't be around until the next morning. If they asked Dr. Mori she'd just get mad that they wanted to keep her from her plans. As for the maids and butlers and everyone else in the house, Mokuba wasn't even sure how far their education went. So, that left only one other person.

"You could ask Seto for help." Jounouchi's face paled and he quickly shook his head.

"No way! He thinks I'm dumb enough as it is! If I did that he'd think even worse of me!" Mokuba smiled, taking this as a sign that Jounouchi's feelings for his brother weren't gone.

"Well, if you don't then you'll probably never get any of this stuff." Jounouchi sighed, knowing he was right, but he wasn't going to give in that easily! Even if he was still annoyed with the situation that didn't mean he wanted to just go out of his way to piss off Kaiba or make the other male think any worse of him.

"Who cares, I never turn this stuff in anyway and I do well enough." He looked away from Mokuba, not wanting to argue with the younger male, and noticed the clock on the table besides him. His eyes widened and he nearly fell out of the bed as he quickly stood. "Shit, Dr. Mori's going to kill me!" Mokuba glanced at the clock and realized two hours had passed rather quickly. He followed Jounouchi out of the room and watched as he ran, without a second thought, straight into the clinic. Although Mokuba couldn't make out what she was saying, he could easily hear her yelling at him once he was inside.

Since he didn't know how long Jounouchi was going to be, Mokuba decided to go talk to Seto. He hadn't really had a chance to apologize about that whole shower thing, like he had wanted to do, and he wanted to see if Seto had any ideas on how to help Jounouchi. So he walked down the stairs, jumping when he got to the bottom, and walked through the maze-like halls until he found the back office where he was sure his brother would be stationed. He just hoped he'd be able to get in this time. Standing there wasn't going to help, however, so he rapped the back of his knuckles along the white door. It was a soft tap at first but, after a few more times, it slowly got louder and Seto seemed to hear it rather quickly.

"Enter," he said from the other side of the door which made Mokuba quickly grasp the handle as if he feared Seto changing his mind. When he was inside the decorated room he made sure the door was closed behind him and walked over to one of the white and gold designed chairs. The room really was oddly bright to belong to Seto, but he had never bothered changing the scheme when he took to working in it. That or he just never bothered dealing with a room he, usually, rarely used. For the past few weeks he ended up in this office more than his real one in Domino but that was understandable since he was injured. Earlier it was odd, since the only one injured was Jounouchi but no one had dared to question that before now. "What do you need, Mokuba?" Seto asked as he continued to type away on his computer. He was nearly done with the new programing and was about to send it off to a few KaibaCorp programmers to be checked and administrated. Mokuba didn't get upset when he didn't look up at him.

"I wanted to…um," he suddenly felt nervous, as if he shouldn't have been there at all. Seto made him feel that way a lot when he was busy with something. "To say I'm sorry," he finally mumbled under his breath. Mokuba half expected his brother to scold him from doing that, like Dr. Mori did on occasion, but his brother seemed to be able to hear him just fine.

"For what?" He still didn't look up from his programming, though his words did take on a kinder tone. It was Mokuba after all, but even for him Kaiba wasn't exactly the most cheerful person in the world. Mokuba accepted that, for now.

"Well…It was my fault Jounouchi ran into your room…." Mokuba sunk back in is seat as he waited for Seto to do something. He wasn't sure what his brother was going to do, but he was sure he didn't want to really see it either. To his surprise, however, Seto didn't really do much. He glanced up, stared at his brother for a moment, and then went back to his programming. The two sat in silence, aside from the clicking of the keys Kaiba's fingers rushed over his keyboard and Mokuba's heels clicking against the legs of his chairs as his feet swayed. After a few minutes Seto finished his work and emailed it on to his employees before closing his computer and looking at Mokuba once again. The raven haired child sunk back into his seat as Seto leaned forward on his desk and let his chin rest atop his hand, which had folded together.

"Explain," he finally said, which made Mokuba gulp. How to explain a situation that fully had to do with Mokuba wanting to test Jounouchi and Seto's sexuality and feelings for one another? Hmm…yea there didn't seem to be any good way around doing this. And besides, he had promised Jounouchi that he wouldn't say anything!

"Um…well…," he figured he could just say the truth, but he'd leave out a few things. Like his motives. Kind of like what he did with Dr. Mori, only even lest motives. "We were looking for you because Jounouchi wanted to thank you for helping him out. We searched the whole house before I mentioned that you were probably in your room and then we raced up and Jounouchi ran faster and one thing happened after another and…yea." He hoped that would be enough for his brother. Seto didn't seem to believe the story. It was too quick, and had too many points in which Mokuba paused or over thought about what he was going to say, but Seto decided to accept it for now.

"Its fine then," he picked up his laptop and put it on the side of the desk before pulling out his briefcase. Mokuba couldn't help but notice it had a few new dents in it and still had traces of blood around the corner. While he looked at it he wondered if Seto was ever going to get a new briefcase before this one broke but even then he didn't think it would be exactly wise. After all, this one seemed to be saving lives and who knew if a new one would have the same properties.

While Mokuba's mind wondered, Seto opened the briefcase and moved a few files around before slipping his laptop into the designated area described for it. Unlike the last time the briefcase was opened there was no money filling the metal box. Instead, he now had different pieces of paperwork, a few electronics like his laptop and a tablet as well as his cellphone, and a few other little things here and there. He seemed to sort through these items before closing the briefcase and standing up, making Mokuba focus on him again.

"Oh, are you busy?" the raven haired boy asked as she slipped off of his chair.

"Why?" Seto didn't feel like saying yes or no mainly because he really didn't have anything he _had_ to do, just a few things he wanted to get done early so he didn't have to deal with it later. Mokuba just shrugged a little before walking toward the door.

"I was going to ask if you could help Jounouchi. He really sucks at his homework but he's too embarrassed to ask you himself." Seto kept walking, following Mokuba out of the room before shutting the lights off and shutting the door, locking it behind him. He thought about Mokuba's idea in silence until they got to the staircase, where Mokuba jumped up on the first step and waited for Seto to do something.

"The mutt is hopeless," he finally said as he noticed Mokuba's expecting look.

"Does that mean you'll help him?"

"Maybe." That was enough for Mokuba at least, so he turned and started running up the stairs before realizing that Seto was just a few steps behind him the whole way.

"He's with Dr. Mori now, so should I make him find you when he's done?" Mokuba instantly regretted the idea since he was quite sure that would just lead to another awkward moment that the two didn't need right now. Seto didn't seem to notice and instead just nodded as he passed Mokuba and started toward the opposite side of the hall. "Um…where should I send him?"

"Upstairs," he walked a little down the hall before adding, "Make sure he knocks this time." Mokuba just grinned and nodded, even though he knew Seto couldn't see him. Seto disappeared up the stairs and Mokuba went straight to the clinic. Unfortunately he found the door to be locked and figured it was because the last time Jounouchi had a checkup Mokuba just ran in without warning and could have made everything so much worse. So he just sat outside the door and waited, since he didn't have anything else to do.

* * *

After the two split up, and Jounouchi endured the wrath of Dr. Mori for being so late, the real checkup began. Even though he always woke up without his shirt on, and thus knew that Dr. Mori and her nurse knew what he looked like half naked, he still wasn't really okay with taking off his shirt in front of her. Of course that was the first thing she demanded when he entered the room and, between her and the nurse staring at him, he had to request a curtain in which to strop his shirt off of.

"Don't be such a scardy cat! Idiot, hurry up so we can move this along!" Dr. Mori called from her seat just outside the curtain. Jounouchi mumbled something under his breath but tried to make sure he wasn't heard as he took off his shirt as quickly as possible. It was more painful than he thought it would be, especially since it wasn't that bad that morning to get dressed. When he took the shirt off and pulled the curtain back Dr. Mori gasped at the sight of his wound. "You've been scratching!"

"I didn't mean to!" he instantly said as she pushed him down onto the cot and began looking at the area of his skin around the bandages. If this was how bad it looked outside of the bandage she was afraid to check under it.

"Yoko, go lock the door before Mokuba runs in and contaminates the area," she quickly ordered her nurse, who ran over to the door and locked it before putting gloves and a mask on. Dr. Mori did the same as she began pulling on the bandage stuck to Jounouchi's side. "This might hurt…but so long as the stiches aren't too bad you shouldn't need to be knocked you. You can take some pain, right Blondie?"

"D-duh," he mumbled through grit teeth as she began pulling at his flesh along with the bandage. She just smiled under her mask and nodded. A few seconds later Jounouchi was doing his best not to scream until he nearly bit right through his lip. The bandage ripped from his skin in a few quick seconds, because it was obvious that Dr. Mori was still mad about him being late and just ripped it of in one foul pull, and the air just made the red area of flesh sting like there was no tomorrow. Yoko was handing different instruments to Dr. Mori while the redhead started to examine his skin. Jounouchi was just grinding his teeth against one another while he tried to ignore the stinging pain combined with the sharp objects he felt were pushing into his skin. In reality those 'sharp objects' were just her fingers running along his stomach. She was even making sure not to touch him with her nails.

The sensitivity he was feeling began to worry her as she called Yoko over and demanded a few extra items. When everything was brought back she began mixing different medicated ointments in a small bowl as she watched him. He didn't look too good, but at least she could tell he wasn't starting to get a fever again like when he was first back after that last fight. "You didn't tare any of the stitches so you should be fine…but it looks like you're starting to get an infection so we'll have to hope it doesn't get too bad. If you scratch at these new bandages I swear I'm going to hit you upside the head so hard you'll be through the roof!" She said with a shake of her finger in his face. He grinned a little and nodded.

"Yes ma'am." He couldn't help but respect her for how lively she was. If he lived in a mansion like this as long as she did, with who she dealt with every day, he probably would have just left or became as bitter as her so-called boss. She smiled at him before going back to her mixing her ingredients together. Once it was done she looked over at Yoko and sent the fair haired girl to do her paperwork in the back, mainly to update Jounouchi's information. It wouldn't be until after the girl left that Dr. Mori decided to openly talk with Jounouchi.

"So, Blondie, tell me something. Why do you put up with the kid?" She took a sanitized cloth and dabbed it into the ointment she had created and gently began to smear it over his stomach and directly over the stitched wounds. He withered in pain but refused to move, or at least tried to do as little of it as he could. Dr. Mori gave him credit for that much.

"I-I don't know…what you mean," he mumbled between waves of pain that were especially difficult to deal with when she put the ointment over the stitches. Luckily she wasn't rubbing it in and instead was just letting it collect across his wounds like an extra few layers of skin. At first it burned but he was more than pleased when it began to cool against his flesh and numbed the pain dramatically. Soon he was able to just lie on the cot without wincing in pain, for the most part, and once Dr. Mori noticed that she put the rest of the ointment on the push table beside her.

"I mean," she said as she leaned over his stomach to look at his wound again without the pain making him tighten his muscles. "I heard how you two use to be. For all I know you two are still that way since I don't pay much attention to either of you outside of this room."

"…What do you mean, 'the way we use to be'?"

"At each other's throats, arguing all the time, things like that. Isn't that how you two use to act around each other? Now you both seem so…tame." She began to examine his stitches individually, which sent a jolt through his skin, causing him to stop moving which was appropriate since he was about to jump up in defense of himself. "Stay still you idiot!"

"We're still like that! We just don't see each other much," he mumbled as his head turned away from Dr. Mori's all too knowing eyes. She just smiled and continued to examine each individual stitch.

"You don't see much of each other…but you're both in the same house? Did you see more of each other when you were in Domino?"

"During tournaments, yeah," he said as he started evaluating the curves in the curtain to his side, still determined not to look at her. Now and then she'd move or pull at an area of skin around one of his stitches that had him biting down a wince but otherwise he laid perfectly still.

"Hmm, seems like you two are avoiding each other," she commented on nonchalantly which finally got Jounouchi's head to snap in her direction.

"If he's avoiding me it's because he's afraid I'll kick his ass if he doesn't have his cards on him!" Dr. Mori just chuckled and glanced up at him, peering over her glasses at the male.

"Do you even have your cards? And I don't think you'd do very well in a fight with the kid since you couldn't even protect yourself from some dumbasses in an alleyway." Jounouchi's face sunk, on both accounts. He didn't know where his cards were, and he wasn't use to carrying them around everywhere. Now that Battle City was over he didn't want to mess up his cards in case another tournament showed up so he usually let Yuugi watch his cards because he didn't trust them at home. He guessed that meant they were still with Yuugi after all this time. That part didn't bother him nearly as much as Dr. Mori tearing down his ability to fight.

"I was doing fine!" he began to argue when Dr. Mori looked up at him and glared.

"Fine?! Fine?! You idiot, when you got here you were on the brink of dying!" Jounouchi glared back at her for a moment before sighing and looking away.

"…I had to get them away from Yug though…." Her eyes widened as she looked down at the blonde. Everything was starting to make a little more sense. From the tone of his body she was sure he was use to fighting, hell she noticed enough scars on him to be sure of it. She had been wondering why he wasn't able to protect himself in the first fight, though she understood the last one.

"Yug? That spiky kid right? He was there?" Jounouchi just nodded and kept staring at the curtain. "Were they after him?" Dr. Mori seriously didn't understand why kids were so obsessed with this whole Duel Monsters thing, but she knew that spiky kid was the only one who beat Seto, and that meant he had some valuable things on his person.

"No, they were after me."

"Why? What did you do, you idiot?" She flicked her finger against his forehead to get him to look at her and she just shook her head. It was clear that this kid was going to be as much of a headache as Seto.

"Because…I use to be a part of the gang when I was younger, but since I met Yug I tried to stop doing that stuff. They wanted me back, and since I kept refusing, and beating the shit out of them when they tried to force me, they just kept coming back. Last time I was at a real disadvantage I guess." Dr. Mori's eyes scanned the young man's torso, looking at all the scars, old and new, and the multiple stitches he had because of that attack and the one following it. She frowned slightly, wondering what kind of childhood he had to have had if this was his life.

"Well, next time both of you get out of there. The dumb kid won't always be around to save yah, princess," she teased with a wink that made Jounouchi's face light up a pale shade of pink.

"I-I don't need him to help me! And I ain't no princess!" he argued before stubbornly turning away again. There was nothing else he could do. If he crossed his arms then he'd likely mess up the magical ointment she had on him and if he got up he was sure it would hurt. Dr. Mori seemed to know this, and thought his pouting to be hilarious.

"Well, you did need it! Twice so far! Who knows, you may need it again. Or he could need you next time. Would you help him?"

"He wouldn't want me to," Jounouchi trailed off.

"You didn't want him to and he still did."

"…Yeah, I'd help him…I guess." She ruffled his hair a bit before grabbing the bandages from her cart.

"Your relationship is funny," she commented off handedly, which just kept the blush to Jounouchi's cheeks.

"W-what are you talking about?" He was going to say they didn't have a relationship, but just saying that seemed to silently admit something he didn't want to talk about, and he was afraid of what Dr. Mori would do if she knew. Mokuba might not go off and tell Seto, but what about Dr. Mori? He wasn't so sure about her.

"The way you bicker but will still help each other, it's a strange relationship. But everything seems so quiet with the two of you avoiding each other," she mentioned, almost in a sad tone that got Jounouchi to look at her again as she began placing sterilized bandages over each of his wounds and using surgical tape to keep them there.

"I'm not avoiding him…he's just, uh, busy. I guess," he mumbled. She nodded. That was true. The kid was always busy. Sometimes it made her worry.

"Well, you're all done. We can take some of the old stitches out later this week by the looks of it. Don't scratch though! If you feel like you really have to scratch come back here. It doesn't matter what time it is, Yoko or I are always in here." Jounouchi nodded as he pushed himself up and was about to hop off the table so he could go try to finish that homework of his. "Oh, and one more thing," she said as she leaned forward so her lips were near his ear. For a moment Jounouchi thought something else was going on, something that was making him feel uncomfortable, until he heard what she whispered. "Is it true you had a nosebleed after walking in on the kid?"

"I-I uh!" his face paled but his cheeks burned a bright red as he leaned back on the cot. His wide, honey eyes looked over the amused doctor. He didn't know what to say. He realized she must have heard from Mokuba about it…but did that mean she knew already? If she did, then did Mokuba already blab about the secret?

"So you did?" She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly. There was just something about her stance and her gaze, something almost motherly, that he couldn't avoid spilling to. But he couldn't speak so instead he just nodded. She reached over and slapped the back of his head, making him bend forward slightly. "Idiot! Next time something like that happens you come here and hide instead of going goodness knows where! Do you know how much blood you've lost? Even if it's replenishing itself you are still at a risk, so don't you do something so stupid again!" He just stared at her and nodded, surprised by how worried she sounded.

"Y-you're not going to …make fun of me or anything?"

"For having a nosebleed around some half naked guy you like? I don't think so," she commented with a roll of her eyes as she started to clean up everything. "And, your lip is bleeding, by the way. You bit through the first layer of skin so you might want to avoid putting pressure on them and no sour or salty substances-not that you should be eating or drinking anything like that anyway." She took a cloth and dabbed it in a bit of water she had aside, in case she needed to clean anything, and grabbed his face with her hand so she could pull him forward. She cleaned his lip of the blood quickly, but gently. Not that Jounouchi noticed. He was too preoccupied trying to beat down his blush and thinking of ways to get back at Mokuba for blabbing.

"H-How did you know…?" he finally mumbled when she let go of him. His lip felt sore now, but he didn't pay any attention to it.

"It's not hard to figure out after I got Mokuba to explain everything to me after you ran off." The fact that it was after he ran off at least made Jounouchi feel better. They didn't have a promise then, so it was alright.

"Are you going to…um…?"

"Tell the kid? No, that's your job not mine." Jounouchi blushed again as he finally stood up from the cot. He was really starting to wonder why he was even keeping it a secret any more. After all, everyone seemed to already know. Except Seto. He wasn't sure if he knew. He slowly pulled his shirt back over his head and let it ease down against his body, which felt weird since there was still some ointment on his skin and it made the shirt feel cold and clingy. He just ignored it for now.

"Um…thanks, Dr. Mori." He wasn't sure if she'd understand the double meaning behind his gratitude but it didn't matter. All that did was that she wasn't going to blab. He was really starting to hate the secrets, but he had to for now. He knew Kaiba would never let him live it down if he found out about Jounouchi being gay and, worse off, for liking him! Especially if he wasn't gay.

"No problem, Blondie." Jounouchi said his goodbyes, even calling out across the large room to say goodbye to the nurse he barely dealt with. He was at the door, about to open it, when Dr. Mori finally looked up at him. "Blondie," she waited for him to turn around and look at her. "If you keep avoiding him it won't matter what either of you feel. It'll all just end in silence and misery." Jounouchi stared at her for a second, taking in what she said, before his eyes lit up. It was like a challenge he couldn't refuse, and she was right anyway. He might have felt embarrassed, and highly awkward, around Kaiba now but if he let that hold him back then he'd always feel like that. At least if he had an answer, one way or another, he'd be able to move on with his life. With or without Kaiba being in it.

"I'll keep that in mind, doc," he replied as he opened the door and saw Mokuba jump up from the floor, which nearly scared the shit out of him. "Watch it Moki!"

"S-sorry!" he mumbled but his bright smile lingered on his face from earlier and Jounouchi was starting to wonder what he was planning. The kid always seemed to be planning something. He closed the clinic's door and stood in front of the little Kaiba, his hands going back into his pockets. "How is everything?"

"Fine, I get to have a few of them taken out later this week," he said with a grin and the hope that his cheeks were back to their normal shade. They were, for the most part, but Mokuba didn't pay attention anyway.

"Awesome! Well, time for you to go ask Seto for help!"

"What? I told you I'm not doing that! I'll figure it out on my own." Jounouchi walked pass Mokuba and toward the room he was using so he could get back to work. The raven haired boy wasn't giving up, however.

"Come on, Seto already knows all of this stuff! He could help you quick!" Mokuba followed him into the room and shut the door behind him as Jounouchi sat back on the bed and stared at all the books and papers scattered all over the place. Mokuba stood in front of him and put his hands on his hips. "Besides, if you don't talk to Seto how are you ever going to get on his good side or something?" Jounouchi looked up at him and thought about what Dr. Mori just told him. Maybe they both had a point.

"…Fine, I guess I could see if he'll stop being a jerk long enough to help." He honestly doubted Kaiba would give him the time of day for anything as trivial as homework but he also never thought that Kaiba would help him with anything and yet he saved his life twice already. Obviously Jounouchi didn't know Kaiba like he thought he did.

"Good! He will, I already talked to him! He's upstairs. He said you need to knock on the door this time," Mokuba mentioned with a giggle that made the blush return to Jounouchi's cheeks. Nope, this wasn't going to work. Maybe he was avoiding Kaiba because he had a feeling that if he was in close contact with the other man he was going to just mentally freak out the whole time. He'd retain less information than if he actually was in class!

"Uh, okay. Aren't you coming?"

"Nah, you two need to hang out alone!" Jounouchi just grimaced.

"Great. Fine, I'll see you later then." He gathered the books back into the bag Honda left him, and then sulked out of the room. Mokuba just watched with a grin and followed him out. They split paths, with Mokuba going up the staircase near his room and going inside while Jounouchi took the long hall walk down to the other staircase. He was still dreading this experience, even if it was a good idea. Whenever Kaiba was asked for help it never ended well. Either he'd torment Jounouchi, or he'd go off on how miserable and pathetic someone was for asking for help. Neither of which Jounouchi wanted to hear. The tormenting and teasing he could take, hell he'd retaliate if he could think of anything, but when Kaiba talked about how pathetic he was for needing help it made him feel that sting of rejection that he hated.

Rejection is what made him stop outside of Kaiba's bedroom door. He wasn't sure about this. What if he figured out Jounouchi was gay just from being around him for a few minutes and then he kicked him out or made fun of him or something? As much as he liked coming back at Seto's life, Jounouchi wasn't sure if he'd be able to if the other male tore at him after rejecting him. Then he remembered that he was being an idiot. There's no way someone can just talk to him for a few seconds and know that he's gay. Even if Kaiba was smart, it would take more than a few minutes in the same room to do it. So, with a deep breath, Jounouchi knocked on the door. After a few seconds of nothing, Jounouchi finally heard Kaiba inside.

"Enter." For a second he felt like he was knocking at Kaiba's office, not his bedroom, with the way he answered. Either way the blonde opened the door and stepped inside as his eyes automatically wandered around. He wasn't surprised that the smug ass had an overly large and detailed room, something he hadn't taken in the last time he saw what was inside. Then again, so did Mokuba. For whatever reason Jounouchi felt far more intimidated in this room where everything was in shades of dark blues and purples, with silver here and there and, of course, black, where it was a lot brighter in the other Kaiba's room. This place just screamed something, but Jounouchi couldn't put his finger on it. "Are you going to stand there with your mouth open all day or did you want something?"

His attention was automatically drawn to the black couch against the wall opposite from him where the older Kaiba brother sat with his long legs crossed and a book down in his lap. He had already finished any extra work he felt like doing and was now relaxing. Or he was, until Jounouchi knocked. "Oh, uh sorry. Mokuba told me to come ask you if you could, uh, never mind!" He couldn't do it. It was just too much to stare at him sitting there with his weird coat flourished around his long legs even while sitting and the look in those sapphire eyes just made his stomach do flips. Besides, there was no easy way to ask someone like Seto Kaiba to help someone like Katsuya Jounouchi at something as trivial as homework. There was just no way, unless you were Mokuba. In which there was always a way.

"Get over here and sit down," Kaiba demanded as Jounouchi turned to leave the room. He stopped and glanced back before following orders. At least he didn't have to ask outright. It looked like Mokuba really did have his back. For his own sake Jounouchi left Kaiba's door open when he went over and sat in a black chair near Kaiba's couch, too nervous to sit next to him directly. At least he could get a quick getaway if the door was open. So far, however, everything was going smoothly until Seto saw him sit down. "So the mutt's learned how to follow orders," he mentioned under his breath before holding his hand out. "Give me the bag," he added when Jounouchi just seemed flustered and confused at the same time.

"I'm not a mutt or a dog or anything like that!" he argued as he passed the bag over. He noticed that Seto was keeping his injured hand on his lap and he instantly felt bad. Before the two could even start looking at anything, Jounouchi tilt his head down and ran his tongue over his cut lip. "I…I'm sorry you got hurt helping me…I should have said thank you earlier." Kaiba glanced down at his hand but then went back to looking through the things in the bag as if he were ignoring Jounouchi. After a few seconds the blond glared at the other male and sulked into his chair. "Trying to be sincere here and you just keep going on like an ass."

"If you want help then shut your mouth," Seto responded as he opened one of the textbooks and started looking for the simplest homework to start with. Jounouchi just crossed his arms and looked away. He didn't say anything else, however, since he really did need all the help he could get. When Seto found something he thought to be relatively simple he placed the open book on the table that stood in the center of all the chairs. He had it facing Jounouchi and pointed to the problem, again with his good hand. Jounouchi glanced over when he heard the book being placed on the table and his heart sunk. It was the problem he and Mokuba couldn't figure out for their lives.

"Before you even try it, I can't figure this shit out for anything." He sat up in his chair again; leaning forward as to look read the words on the page Kaiba was pointing to.

"I thought you had more determination than that," Seto stated coolly, which made Jounouchi look over at him. He couldn't figure out if that was a compliment, or an insult, or both at the same time. He eventually picked the book up from the table and started to read through it again with a new gusto. Even when he was done this time he didn't understand most of it and had to awkwardly ask Kaiba a few questions.

An hour later Jounouchi was sitting on the floor by Seto's feet, his back against the couch, and he kept looking up at the other male with questions here and there, though he was doing a lot better than he thought he would be. Kaiba was leaning forward slightly, but not too far since his side was still hurt and his breathing became too labored if he bent his body too much. Jounouchi had noticed it a few times but, based off how he was ignored earlier, he guessed that Seto didn't want to talk about it so he left it alone. He was worried, however, and just hoped that the other male didn't get hurt again because of him. Seto seemed to just ignore it as he leaned across Jounouchi now and then to point out something he missed or needed to redo or read. Each time he did Jounouchi would quickly look down and try to hide the small blush that would cross his cheeks but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to do when the other male was literally close enough to touch. At times they were touching depending on how Kaiba had to lean forward.

Two hours later it was dark outside and the two had to turn the lights in the room on just to keep working. Everything was starting to get to Jounouchi, however, and he was having a hard time focusing on any of the words on the page he was supposed to be rereading. Sitting in a pile besides him was a large collection of homework that he had finished solely because of Seto's help, which he really was grateful for. At this point, however, he wasn't sure how much more he could take and even Kaiba could see it. For Seto this was nothing. He had to do all of this and far more on a daily basis when he was younger. Even Mokuba would have thought this was a lot since Seto didn't force him to study as intensely. So, since he wasn't feeling well anyway with all of this leaning and pulling at his side, he decided that was enough for today and reached around Jounouchi once again to pull the book from his hand.

"H-hey!"

"That's enough for today," Seto said as he closed the book and placed it on the pile of other things they had to do, which was a lot smaller than what it had been a few hours earlier. Jounouchi was fine with that and he quickly started to move the other pile into the bag so he could give it to Honda when he came back over. He couldn't wait to see the looks on all his friend's faces when he actually proved he did his homework for once!

Just as Jounouchi was standing, stretching as well as he could without causing too much pain; Seto eased back into his couch and picked up the book he had been reading beforehand. It was as if Jounouchi never even came in. He wasn't going to complain though, especially not since he wanted to ask Kaiba for his help again. It turned out he wouldn't have to since Kaiba spoke up as soon as Jounouchi went to pick up the other books.

"Leave them for tomorrow." Jounouchi just stared at him, wondering how he even knew what Jounouchi was doing from behind that big book, but again he wasn't going to question it. Hell, so long as he had Kaiba helping him there was no way he'd fail even with being out of school for so long. With that knowledge in the back of his mind he quickly turned and walked toward the door, which he forgot had been open the whole time. He wondered if Mokuba or anyone else had spied on the two while they worked because, honestly, he wouldn't have noticed. He was so enveloped between getting the work done and being so close to Seto for the first time in a long time, and in a completely new way, that nothing else really caught his attention.

"Uh…hey, Kaiba I have one more question," he said as he turned from the door to face the brunette again. Of course Kaiba never looked up from his book.

"What?"

"…Why did you help me today…and why are you helping me tomorrow?" He hoped this wouldn't ruin the chances of Kaiba helping him again but he just couldn't let the question linger. It was too potent in his mind. Kaiba didn't stop reading, even when he answered.

"Because it's my fault you're out of classes," he stated blatantly. Jounouchi didn't really understand but he didn't push it and just nodded.

"Oh, okay. Thanks! See yah tomorrow." He quickly left the room, not sure if he could stay any longer without messing something up. The door closed behind him and Kaiba finally put his book down as he stared at the door. The real truth was he felt slightly guilty for the wounds on Jounouchi's stomach since, if he hadn't have knocked that idiot backwards like he had, then Jounouchi's stomach would never have had the amount of damage it did. He felt responsible for the wound and all that came from it.

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**Aw Seto actually knows how to feel emotions some times :0 **

**Seto: ...  
**

**Jounouchi: ;D**

**I hope everyone liked the story and feel free to leave a review or suggestion!**

**Also, I'm looking for a new fanfic to start writing while I'm working on this one so I'd love some suggestions!**


	12. Situation

**Cy's back!**

**This chapter took far too long, but it's a really long chapter so I hope you guys don't mind! This one's going to be fun! Also, all credit for translating the textspeak goes to Kay!**

**I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, though I wish I did!**

**(I should probably warn you guys that there is some sliiiight puzzleshipping in this chapter. It's relevant to some movements in the plot within this chapter and beyond it so I hope you guys don't miiind~ If you do, then oh well hehe)**

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After leaving Seto's room Jounouchi returned to his own, where he quickly took a shower and got dressed so he could lie down. He felt exhausted. But then he remembered he promised Yuugi that he would text him before going to bed so he quickly reached for his phone, which he now kept on the bedside table, and flipped it open. For a moment he just stared at it, really hating the fact that he had this old piece of junk but at least it didn't break as easily as some phones did. He searched through his limited contacts until he got to Yuugi's name and opened up his messaging system.

_Hey Yug, u up? _ He typed as quickly as a person with his type of phone could and sent it off. While waiting for a reply he started moving his pillows around so he could prop himself up, since he didn't want to fall asleep just yet. A few seconds later he heard his phone beep as Yuugi's text message came through.

_Yep! What's up, Jou? _

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

…_Yug…wtf… _Jounouchi just stared at his phone, not really sure what to think about what his friend had set as his signature.

_THAT WASN'T ME! IT WAS YAMI! _

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

…_wtf do u and pharaoh do? _As he started reading his friend's freaked out message the blond couldn't help but be thankful that his own predicament wasn't as odd. Something was going on, and he wasn't really sure what it was. Or that he wanted to know what it was either.

_NOTHING!_

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

_Yeaaa not believing yah. We need 2 talk about sumthing? _Now he was sitting up, forgetting his pillows, and leaning slightly over his phone to read the messages. He might have been a slow texter but Yuugi was answering him quicker than normal, probably due to having a newer phone and because he seemed to be in a panic.

_I swear! It was Yami!_

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

While Jounouchi worked on his response he was interrupted by another message, which just had him sitting there staring at the phone for a good few minutes.

_Simply informing you of Yuugi's relation. That is all. Oh, and hello Jounouchi. Goodbye._

_THE __Pharaoh~_

…_wtf… _He really couldn't think of anything else to ask or comment on. This whole thing just seemed surreal.

…_Sorry…_

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

_Yug…do I want to know? _Shaking his head, he already decided he didn't want to. So he put his phone on the bedside table and plugged it in as he got up and started to pull off his shirt. The ointment that Dr. Mori put on him earlier was wearing off and now his skin felt like it was burning. It wasn't exactly painful, but his shirt just made him feel over heated and itchy.

…_Something's are better left as questions…_

_~Pharaoh's Bitch~_

_2 things Yug 1 u should change ur siggy 2 how do u and Pharaoh do that? _Honestly, that's all Jounouchi could ask himself, or Yuugi for that matter. It was an interesting concept, and he certainly wasn't going to make fun of his friend for it, even if it did weird him out a little bit. If Yuugi and the Pharaoh were like the same person, then it was a weird attraction right? And he never thought of Yuugi as a narcissist. He could see Seto as one, sure, but not Yuugi and yet here his friend was being all internally incestrial with his other soul. It was just odd.

…_um…_

_~Master of Games~_

_Does Anzu know? _He quickly asked before putting the phone back down and going over to the window. He pulled back the curtains that normally protected him from the sun's rays in the morning and opened the window panels so a cold breeze could encase the room. He instantly felt better and went right back to the bed, laying down and rolling onto his side to face the phone so he didn't have to take it off the charger.

…_No. Don't tell okay? I'm TRYING to keep it quiet…_

_~Master of Games~_

_Lol np _Even if he didn't say anything, he was pretty sure the Pharaoh wasn't going to keep quiet much longer. He obviously had no issue telling Jounouchi about the relationship.

_So, how are you? Everything okay over there?_

_~Master of Games~_

_Yea, just tired. _As he typed out the message he found himself slowly scratching at his stomach and quickly had to pull away. Just to keep himself from doing it again he turned over and laid on his stomach with his back arched so he could keep the phone in front of him. The only issue with this position was the fact that his hair was still wet and fell in front of his face. The long, golden strands kept blocking his eyes and he had to continue whipping his hair back so he could see.

_Okay so I have a question, if that's okay_

_~Master of Games~_

_Go 4 it. _Jounouchi knew where this was going.

_Do you like Kaiba? Or is Honda just being a troll_

_~Master of Games~_

_Honda is a fucking troll. But yea I got the hots for Kaiba. _At this point he didn't feel like hiding anything. Why not just be honest to his friends about it? Honda was going to troll on him either way and, so long as no one told Kaiba or anyone else outside of the group, there was no harm or foul. So he was blatantly hones in his text message. Plus it was easier when he was just sending the words and didn't have to look anyone in the face.

_Wow. I didn't think you'd be that open about it._

_~Master of Games~ _

_Everyone knows anyway. N I didn't think u and Pharaoh would be…u know _Even if it was just words he was sending, he couldn't say it. He wasn't even sure what to call it. Did having feelings for another version of himself make Yuugi gay or what? He just didn't understand.

(*ﾟｰﾟ)ゞ _We're never talking about this again are we?_

_~Master of Games~_

_Nope. _At least Yuugi felt the same way.

_Kay. When do you come back to school?_

_~Master of Games~_

_IDK. Whenver Mori says so. _Even though he kept remembering that he would eventually get back to his normal life, Jounouchi wasn't sure when it would be or how he would transition to it. He might not have been at the Kaiba mansion long but he was starting to get used to being here and dealing with the awkward moments between himself and Kaiba. Not to mention he liked having a comfortable bed for once.

_You have a lot of homework to do._

_~Master of Games~_

_I'm doing it with Kaiba! _Seconds after the message was sent the words he choose sunk into Jounouchi's mind and he quickly tried to cancel the message, but it was too late. He dropped down to the pillows, smothering his face, and hoped Yuugi wouldn't take it the wrong way. Of course he was wrong.

_Too much info Jou!_

_~Master of Games~_

_No! Not like that! _He kept his head in the pillows as if he could teach himself via suffocation to stop sending stupid text messages. Obviously Yuugi wasn't having any of that.

_Well, that was quick._ ⌒(*＾-°)v

_~Master of Games~_

_Shut it Yug! Nothins going on._ Hell, if something was Yuugi probably would have been one of the first ones he told. Maybe Honda. If Honda wasn't being a complete ass that day.

_Not yet. _(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

_~Master of Games~_

_Whatever Yug. G-night. _He yawned and turned over; ignoring the next beep that came from his phone as he slipped onto his side and pulled the sheet over his body. He left the blanket bunched around his legs so he could grab it later if he needed it.

_Have fun! Night Night_

_~Master of Games~_

The last message would have to wait until morning to be looked at because Jounouchi didn't last long when he finally laid down for bed. He fell asleep within moments and, like the night before, his mind was plagued with odd dreams. The only difference was this time they were just dreams about Kaiba, not actual events that he misinterpreted. Either way, he enjoyed himself and slept with a goofy grin on his lips.

* * *

The next morning, before the sun even attempted to rise above the think and stormy clouds, Seto woke up early from a restless night. He laid there for a few minutes, his eyes adjusting to the flashes of light coming into his room from outside and he knew a storm would be washing over the property soon enough. Ignoring it, he eventually pulled the covers off of his body with his good hand and sat up as his blue eyes faintly looked around the large room. He shifted so one leg could drape over the side of the bed with a foot on the floor while the other leg bent at the knee and pressed against his chest, on the uninjured side. He leaned a bit, his arm draping across his knee and his head hanging there for a moment while he thought about what he had to do today. A headache racked through his mind but he did his best to ignore the infernal thumping of his brain against the sides of his skull as he went through his schedule for the day. None of it had a specific area or location he had to be in at any exact time, other than by a computer, so he decided he would return to KaibaCorp today for an inspection. Recently he was only able to be in his office a few times per week, and just to make sure that the fools left there weren't running any of his projects into the ground with his supervision lax. While he continued to work from home he felt no trust for the men left behind and was quite sure some foolhardy scandal was waiting for him, similar to when he returned to find the Big Five trying to take over his company during the Duelist Kingdom.

With an aggravated sigh escaping his barely parted lips, the older Kaiba brother eventually got out of bed and went straight to his door to lock it. After the incident with Jounouchi running in on him, Kaiba rarely left the door unlocked anymore, unless he was sure he wouldn't be caught in a compromising position. Once he was sure it was secure, even going as far as to check the knob, he went into his closet and looked through the different styles of clothing he had. Although he could have worn anything from a simple suit to something more casual, or at least as casual as Kaiba could get, he still choose the odd looking white sleeveless coat and a black shirt with leather pants and shoes to match. He took all of his choices into the master bathroom with him and quickly took a shower. He had to take the bandages off his hand and side before the shower and decided to just throw them away. He wasn't going to go to KaibaCorp looking weak because of some injury and the pain was barely noticeable anyway. At least, that's what he believed before he took his shower. When the hot water hit his bruised and beaten flesh he couldn't help but flinch at the sudden contact and he realized he'd have to wait a bit longer before the pain would go away completely. He accepted that, but he still wouldn't dare show any weakness with something so trivial as bandages.

After about a half hour under the hot water, Seto got out and got dressed only to leave the bathroom and go to his dresser in his walk-in closet. He picked up the belts he usually wore and slipped them on over his legs and then his arms, each going on slowly as to not point out the pain that was still aching in his injured hand. By the time he was dressed and had all of his things organized in that briefcase of his it was just reaching six in the morning and he fully expected everyone to still be asleep, at least everyone that mattered. And if they weren't asleep he thought they would just then be waking up rather than already being ready for the day, like he was. To his disappointment he was clearly wrong when he opened his bedroom door and saw none other than Dr. Mori standing inches away from him with her arms crossed. Once glance around her and he knew she probably got up earlier than him to prepare for the day since she was already dressed in her sleeveless purple turtleneck with a pinstripe skirt and her usual lab coat, making her almost look too normal to work in a place like this.

"…How long have you been standing there…," he asked after a few moments of silence where the two just stared at each other. Dr. Mori's dark violet eyes were almost painful to stare at with the shadow of her purple glasses highlighting them. Seto already could tell what type of mood she was in.

"About a half hour," she admitted without a moment's hesitation or any apparent embarrassment. Seto just sighed under his breath and her lip twitched as if she wanted to smirk but held it back.

"Why?" he eventually asked, seeing as she wasn't going to give him the pleasure of explaining herself until she made him talk at least a little bit.

"It's about time I check on those wounds and you're not getting away from me like you usually try to. Not until I get my checkup with you." It was obvious she wasn't kidding either. Instead of standing there with like a normal person would, as in leaving enough space for someone to breath and walk past them, Dr. Mori took a step closer until her face was only an inch or two away from his chest, since she was a good few inches shorter than the lanky model-like male. Eventually Seto just nodded and motioned for her to lead the way without saying a word. He knew exactly what she'd do if he tried to get past her or, worse, close the door on her and wait her out. Her fist would have made contact right with his side in such a fashion that, whether he liked it or not, he would have been brought down. There was no way he could take a direct hit right now, not when his ribs could have been seriously injured.

So she led the way, her eyes glancing over her shoulder from time to time just to make sure he was following. Even if she could hear his boots clicking behind her on the stairs it still made her question if he was there or just learned how to throw sound around. She wouldn't put it past him to learn a few tricks like that. But he didn't, and he wasn't running away from her and probably never would. Instead he used the situation to annoy her right back. Once they were in the clinic, and she went over to retrieve the papers she had filled out about his condition only to turn around and see him in her chair. She ran her eyes over his long, crossed legs, and continued to look up until she got to his face, at which point she just smirked.

"Can't cross your arms, hmm? You must feel so incomplete without your signature pose," she teased as she walked over. Kaiba glanced at her and then looked around the large room with little to no interest. She did have one up on him, however. Due to his side and his hand he couldn't easily cross his arms, nor keep the pose for very long when he did.

"Let's get this over with."

"Yea, yea cool your jets kid. You're about as impatient as Blondie." Seto looked at her a moment before he finally had to ask.

"…Blondie?"

"Yea, you know, Princess. Eh…what's his name again?" She looked down at her clipboard, which happened to have both Seto's and Jounouchi's files on it. "Katsuya Jounouchi." Seto glanced up at her when she mentioned Jounouchi's first name. Due to all of the other labels he had given the male over the years, Seto always forgot Jounouchi's first name. He never cared much about it. Calling him something to do with a dog just seemed to fit better; it always had. On the rare occasion Seto wanted to be dramatic or he actually wasn't as annoyed as usual with the idiotic man he would call him Jounouchi, but that was about as close to being 'friendly' he ever was and probably ever would be.

"Hurry up." Dr. Mori rolled her eyes but the pause and the blatant ignorance of her mentioning the other male's name didn't go unnoticed.

"If you want to get out of here so quickly then start taking off the coat and the shirt." If Kaiba was a more vocal person, Dr. Mori was sure she would have heard some aggravated groan or a few loud curses from him. Instead she just heard the heavy coat falling to the back of the chair with a thud and the clanging sound of his belts following a few minutes later. She really wanted to question them but it was pointless. He probably wouldn't even pay attention to the question anyway and it was really against her contract to kick his ass. She turned away from him to get her supplies when she saw his injured hand having an issue with one of the buckles. It was up to him and his fault in the first place for wearing the damn things. Besides, he'd never let her help him even if he did accept being seen in a vulnerable position of weakness. Which he wouldn't. And he'd probably fire her if she stood there when he took his shirt off.

By the time she turned back around he was sitting there, his legs uncrossed and his back gingerly against his coat and shirt, which were draped over the chair. Her eyes traveled the easily seen bruise running along his side, calling her closer within seconds. Without saying a word she took her clipboard and smacked him in the back of the head with it, causing him to lurch forward and then flinch back. "How dare you just walk around without bandages you idiot! Do you realize that if you moved in a certain way, without any protection on your ribs, they could break? And then what are you going to do? You sure the hell wouldn't be getting any drugs from me!"

He gave her a side glare but said nothing as he sat up again. She just sighed, her face sinking in defeat, before she knelt beside him and started evaluating his side. Even if he was injured, she knew better than to ask him to lie on the table like she had Jounouchi do the night before. He'd never do that, not with pride as large as his. "Alright, big shot, this time we don't have to worry about Mokuba walking in so you're going to answer me. What's so important about Blondie that you'd let this happen to you? You're usually a lot quicker on your feet."

"I was distracted," was his simple reply after a few moments' pause. Dr. Mori just scoffed.

"What the hell distracts you? Sure the hell wasn't Blondie, because he looked like a mess when he came in so I doubt he was pretty enough to distract you with any looks," she teased as she ran her fingers over the bruise to see where it hurt the most, or didn't hurt at all. Kaiba did his best not to wince or flinch to the point that, when he did, it got Dr. Mori's attention. "Hey, kid, you with me?"

"Just finish," he stated coolly as he held the back of the chair with his good arm. She just shook her head, knowing that it wasn't going to be that easy but wishing it had been.

"You didn't answer me, you know," she added as she got to a particularly painful spot near his ribs where she continued to wonder if he was going to break them any time soon.

"Yes I did," he retorted.

"No, you said you got distracted and that's why you weren't quick. You didn't explain to me what's so special about this kid. He's just some street punk that got into another fight. It happens to them all the time all over the place, yet you think one case is important enough to stop and put yourself in danger. As far as I can see there's nothing special about this guy. No special talents, or intellect, nothing that you could use him for. Excuse me, your highness, but that just doesn't seem like you." She found where she could feel the bruise at its core under his skin but she never felt him move under her fingers. When she glanced up her eyes widened at the intense glare he was giving her. It was filled with so much distain and, perhaps, hatred that she almost felt claustrophobic for being so close to him. It was as if the anger leaked off of him and just tried to suffocate her. She let her hands pull away from his skin but he didn't show any other sign of noticing it. It wasn't her character to be afraid of those looks from him, even if she had only seen this much anger directed at her from the kid once before, but she couldn't help it this time.

"It's none of your business what I do or why." She looked his face over for a moment but when neither faltered she finally gave in and nodded.

"Alright," she said as she pushed herself up and went to get some sterilized bandages and wrapping. As soon as she came back he lifted both of his arms just enough that she could apply the bandages and padding where they needed to be without a word from either party. A few minutes later she was standing at his other side, examining his hand. "This is healing quite nicely but you'll need to keep it bandaged for at least a week. Probably longer if you push it." She stated in a cold tone of her own. Seto didn't seem to notice as he just nodded. She did the same to his hand as she had when she was first summoned to check on him. When she was done he stood and carefully pulled his shirt back on before bracing the buckles. This time, when he had a difficult moment putting one of the buckles on as it fell out of place, she grabbed it and he just stared at her.

"I'm not going to say anything directly, kid," she began as she moved the buckle to its normal location on his bicep and began pulling it to the used lock. "But I do have one piece of advice pertaining to this whole situation. Think about everything long and hard before you just let something good for you walk out of your life. If you can't figure shit out for yourself soon, you'll be left out of something that could actually bring life back into this place." He just stared at her for a few moments until he felt her secure the other belt on his arm. Without a word he grabbed his jacket and stepped away from her so he could put it on and she turned away to fill out the paperwork and take inventory of her stock, as she did every day. The way she was so blunt to him about what she believed was going on in the house, yet doing it without outwardly saying or asking if he were gay or bisexual or anything of that sort was something only she could probably pull off without getting her head chewed off. That glare, however, had been enough of a warning.

Once the coat was on and he had his briefcase back in his hand he left the clinic without a word and Dr. Mori didn't even bother to look at him as he left. Instead she went along her business as usual. She would spend her day in the clinic, working with her nurse Yoko on inventory and paperwork or a list of things to pick up soon if she was running low on anything. Kaiba went to KaibaCorp to not only get away from Dr. Mori's words but also the mansion itself. Things there were just getting strange and he hated not understanding what was happening in his own home! That was the real reason he had to get out of the mansion. Especially since he had already agreed to help Jounouchi again and now, after Dr. Mori's comment, his mind was clouded more than it usually was these past two or three weeks. He would at least have a quiet place to think at KaibaCorp if nothing else.

* * *

A few hours later, with the other members of the mansion finally awake and wondering around, Mokuba was getting antsy. He didn't know how he was going to get Jounouchi's friends alone without Jounouchi getting suspicious. But in order to get them alone he also had to have someone distract Jounouchi and he wasn't sure who could, or would, do that for him. Of course Dr. Mori came to mind but he was afraid she'd beat the crap out of him for saying or doing something stupid. If she wasn't afraid to take on Seto then she obviously wasn't going to be afraid to take on Mokuba or Jounouchi.

He decided he'd have to wait until after his lessons to figure it out. Thankfully he didn't have much to go over with the tutors today so he'd likely get out earlier than normal. He had about an hour before his tutors would be waiting for him so he decided to go say hello to Seto. Recently he began to feel bad about always talking to Jounouchi in the morning and never stopping in on Seto like he used to. Not that Seto liked it when he did, especially since he almost always interrupted something important. While his brother would only cast him off when it was a private or something that had to be done right then and there without interruption, Mokuba still knew it annoyed him. He just couldn't help wanting to see his brother. The mansion was so quiet and boring; it just flat out depressed him when he was alone. Sure there were maids and butlers, the bodyguards and security, even Dr. Mori but they didn't have time for him usually, and the ones that did were too obedient to be fun. In the rare cases that he got to go to KaibaCorp with his brother for a while would usually be the highlight of his week but ever since Jounouchi was brought to the mansion it seemed like Seto wasn't going back to KaibaCorp as often as he normally would have-which was once every single day.

Mokuba may be the technical vice president of KaibaCorp but his brother just didn't give him the responsibility of one. This was one of the many reasons Mokuba wished he could grow up faster. With Seto taking most of the stress on his own shoulders it left him in a sorry state that he hid far too well from anyone outside of a select group. That group, of course, had Mokuba, Dr. Mori and his main bodyguards, Shun and Hayate. Even then, he tried to hide it from them. If Mokuba could just catch back up with his studies and excel like his brother had when he was younger, then Seto wouldn't have to hold all the stress alone. The brothers could do it together and take an even stronger hold on the market.

"Yea…we could do it together…," Mokuba whispered to himself as he stood in front of Seto's office door. He knocked but there was no response, even after the usual pause. He knocked again and still nothing. Frowning, the young raven haired boy leaned forward and pressed his ear to the door only to find it swinging open at his weight. He fell flat on his face and expected Seto to scold him for being so foolish. Instead he felt light fingers on his arms, lifting him up.

"Young master, you should be more careful!" a quiet voice stated as he was put back on his feet. When Mokuba turned around he saw a pale, aqua haired woman that always hid away in the corner of Dr. Mori's clinic.

"Oh, sorry Yoko. Um…do you know where Seto is?" The young woman nodded her head, making her medium length hair waver around her neck.

"Master Kaiba left this morning to return to KaibaCorp," she explained as she reached around Mokuba and closed the door, since he had walked into the hall and stood beside her.

"Oh…okay," he frowned, disappointed, but started down the hall. "Have a nice day, Yoko!" he called back to her before taking his time toward the library, where his tutors would be waiting for him in about a half hour. He made sure to take his time. Yoko watched him from where she stood with a small frown before returning to the clinic with the new towels she had been sent to pick up. She couldn't help but feel bad for the younger Kaiba, stuck in this big place all alone. Sure it was beautiful, but it was also a prison of sorts and it had been like that since before the two brothers were brought there. Part of her wondered if it would ever end.

Mokuba's lessons went rather quickly, as compared to most days, due to the fact that, while Jounouchi was with Seto for those few hours the night before, he had spent the time on his own homework and studies. While the tutors didn't know what got into him they were all rather pleased, and relieved, when he came in with everything done and little to no questions. As of recently, they were afraid he would never begin to excel again, since his performance slowly dwindled in assignments and lessons ever since Battle City ended. They were rather sure they knew the reason but none of them were in any position to bring it up to Seto, which whom they were sure it dealt with. So, with little questions being asked and even less to go over as far as corrections were the tutors were left with the decision to go on with the studies or to let the young boy leave early. Since he showed them he really was trying, the tutors agreed to let him leave early, this one time, as a treat.

Since he was out Mokuba couldn't help but run through the white halls, his shoes barely making a noise as he seemed to ghost over the priceless purple Prussian rug, which covered the marble flooring in every hallway. He nearly slipped at one point as he turned a sharp corner too quickly but his hand reached out just in time to grab a doorknob and keep himself up. After that he took his trip at a rather slow pace but it still didn't take him long to reach his destination; Jounouchi's room. Unfortunately the blonde was already gone when he opened the door to surprise him. It didn't take Mokuba long to figure out where he would be and so he took to a meager pace down the hall until he came to the clinic door. Before knocking he decided to test the handle and, to his surprise, it wasn't locked this time. He opened the door, just a crack, and found himself peering in on an examination and a rather interesting conversation.

"How do you have so much energy?! You should be in bed withering in pain, not in here prancing around like a lunatic." Dr. Mori explained as she walked around a half-naked Jounouchi, who stood there nodding with an unneeded grin stretching out his lip. He didn't seem to feel the cut that lingered from yesterday or even the healed and scabbed wound on his cheek because the action didn't make him react negatively at all. Shaking her head, Dr. Mori took a step back and picked up Jounouchi's green shirt before draping it over her chair so it wouldn't get in her way again. For a moment Mokuba thought he was listening to something completely different than he was.

"What can I say, doc? I'm just not good in confined places. I'm not use to being constricted for so long! You should'a seen me on the boat to Duelist Kingdom. I was so antsy I jumped off the boat at one point!" he joked as he scratched at his cheek. Dr. Mori rolled her eyes but just nodded as if she believed his story. It wasn't like he was completely lying though. He had jumped off the boat but not so he could get out of a confined place. He did it for Yuugi, and he'd do it again if he could. "Come on, you've gotta let me do something! I'm starting to feel all fat and flabby," he whined as he turned to her and nearly knocked into the cot that stood beside him. She just sighed.

"How could you be fat if you barely eat what's provided for you?" Her voice was cold but it didn't seem to affect Jounouchi as much as it usually would have. Most likely due to the fact he was more grossed out by the food than afraid of her, which impressed Mokuba considerably. Dr. Mori took this moment to walk around his body again, looking over each wound and craves between the muscles he most obviously had across his body.

"Ah come on, that stuff's gross! You can't expect anyone to stomach that slop!" She rolled her eyes again before coming to a stop in front of him and crossing her arms. Jounouchi was starting to wonder who picked that habit up from whom between Kaiba and Dr. Mori.

"You'll eat it just like the others," she started off, which slightly creeped Jounouchi out. It almost sounded like she was torturing or experimenting on him and other people. "If you don't, eventually you won't have any energy left and then you'll die. Do you want to die, Princess?" Jounouchi gulped and quickly shook his head. He couldn't just let her make fun of him though.

"I ain't a princess!" he eventually rebutted. She rolled her eyes and pinched his arm, making him pull away quickly. "Ow!"

"Keep losing muscle tone like this and you'll look like Princess Peach!" Jounouchi huffed and crossed his arms as he leaned away from her so she couldn't pinch him again.

"It's not my fault! I've been stuck in here for like, three weeks!"

"Two and a half, to be exact. I can see your point though…," she pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear, looping the locks under her glasses to keep them pinned in place for a while. Her eyes looked over the clipboard on the cot, which she picked up. As she read what she wrote about his physical fitness and body tone, as well as how his stitches were healing, she nodded to herself. "I'll make a deal with you, Blondie!" she suddenly stated as she turned on him, a grin pulling at her red painted lips. Jounouchi looked skeptical but his curiosity got the best of him and he leaned back, against a desk as he watched her.

"What kinda deal?"

"A win-win kind of deal. If you actually consume three of the meals prepared for you, based on the nutrients you need, every day for the next ten days then I'll talk the kid into letting you use his gym." Mokuba's ears perked up at this point. Things started running through his mind on how he could get Jounouchi preoccupied long enough to talk to his friends about the situation-without breaking the promise of course. He figured he could always just let Jounouchi use the gym and then explain it to Seto later, when he got home. If he did that then he could have just ran in and pulled Jounouchi away, since his friends were due at any time, but he decided to wait for the deal with be finalized. From the look on Jounouchi's face it was clear he was torn. The thought of eating that so called food everyday made his stomach do an uncomfortable flip but he wanted to get back into shape again. Not that he looked all that different, outwardly, than he did a month ago other than the scars and perhaps a bit of loose skin here and there. It was just the fact that he felt different.

"Wait," Jounouchi held his hands up as a thought popped into his head suddenly. Dr. Mori leaned to the side and gave him an impatient look.

"What?" she asked briskly. Jounouchi didn't notice she seemed annoyed about the ignored proposal.

"Kaiba has a gym? Like…his own gym?" Dr. Mori just stared at him for a moment, dumb founded, before hitting her forehead with her hand.

"You are a dimwit! Of course he does. First off, what doesn't the kid have besides a date? Secondly, what, do you think he just magically has enough body tone and training to fight? He has a very strict regimen."

"Why?" Jounouchi tried to ignore her first point, because as soon as she said it he was more than willing to help fix that and it annoyed him that his mind was just as against him as his heart seemed to be. He couldn't understand why Kaiba had to be prepared to fight though. Sure, Jounouchi knew there were some times when Kaiba got in some bad situations but was it really so bad that he had to be ready for anything?

"Because of KaibaCorp and Mokuba," Dr. Mori said with a frown. She couldn't tell Jounouchi the truth. Not the full truth, at least, so she left the main reason out.

"Huh?"

"People try to take over KaibaCorp all the time and they'll do anything to get their way. Some attack him directly; others try to get him via Mokuba. After a close call the first time he decided he wasn't going to let it be that easy again and started training. He nearly killed himself with how hard he tried until I convinced him to slow down," she added passively as she crossed her arms and let her eyes peer up at the slightly taller blonde. "So, deal or what?"

"Deal," he eventually said, which Mokuba took as his cue.

"Alright, I'll talk to the kid when he gets home," she commented as she wrote something down on her clipboard. Jounouchi, who hadn't known Kaiba was gone, gave her a weird look but nodded. He might not have been the brightest tool in the toolbox but he wasn't a complete idiot. If Kaiba wasn't around he figured the brunette must have either been at KaibaCorp or in a meeting somewhere. It didn't linger in his mind long.

"He could use it now," Mokuba mentioned as he walked over to the two, surprising them. Dr. Mori glanced down at the boy without shifting her position while Jounouchi shook his head. He was really starting to hate being surprised all the time. He thought that was done with. "I'll just tell him when he gets back." Dr. Mori let her lips dip down into a frown. Seto was already in a bad mood from the little meeting the two had that morning and she doubted Mokuba would make it any better if he pulled a stunt like this.

"I don't think that's wise, Mokuba. You can't just let someone use the kid's things without his permission. You know he doesn't play well with others." Mokuba frowned.

"Oh come on! Seto won't even know about it if Jounouchi leaves the gym before he comes home. I'll even help make sure everything's cleaned up, promise!" Mokuba wasn't letting this one chance slip by. She just sighed, knowing Mokuba was going to do this either way and also believing Jounouchi would do it too, and hurt himself again.

"Fine, but I'm limiting your exercises," she mentioned as she looked over to Jounouchi, who grinned. She reached over to a bin on her wall and pulled out a packet of papers. As she flipped through the pages she circled what he could do and left what he couldn't do unmarked, so she could just update it later. It was the same sheet she used for Seto whenever she switched his regimen around. "While you're working out keep focus on one area rather than your whole body at any time. At least until we get those stitches out. By that I mean if you're working on your arms, leave your legs alone. You can't work on your back, abdominals, or torso, so keep it to arms and legs at different intervals. And don't be stupid and overdo it because if you pop a stitch I'm going to let you just sit there until the kid gets home and he can kick your ass." She handed the packet to Jounouchi, who nodded again. His grin still tugged at his lips and it was clear to see the glee in his honey toned eyes.

"No problem, doc!" Jounouchi gave her a thumb up as he reached around her for his shirt. Mokuba came over and grabbed the packet of papers from him to look at what he could do so he knew what to show Jounouchi when they got into Seto's gym. While Jounouchi carefully pulled his shirt back on Dr. Mori dismissed them with a wave of her hand while she went back to her filing cabinets to add the information to his medical records. For someone with very few patients she certainly had a lot of files but no one seemed to notice besides her.

Once Jounouchi was dressed again Mokuba grabbed his hand and started pulling him out of the room. The two both called back to Dr. Mori, saying their goodbyes, but were ignored as the door closed behind them. Mokuba didn't even notice because he was far too worried about the time. He was sure Shun had left KaibaCorp already and picked up the gang from school. If they showed up before Jounouchi was preoccupied then Mokuba would lose his chance to talk to them and that just wasn't going to happen. He needed to make sure he wasn't the only one seeing things going on and even if the group wasn't around as often he was sure they could at least tell him about how Jounouchi and Seto acted when they were together and Mokuba wasn't around.

Mokuba led Jounouchi down the main staircase into the foyer and then through a door to the right behind the stairs which led into the basement. Even though Mokuba seemed to have given him a tour of the entire mansion, Jounouchi was beginning to realize he didn't know a lot about this place. Every few days he found or saw something new. It just peeked his curiosity as to what else there was. Obviously there had to be more. It was Kaiba's house, after all. For now his attention was drawn to the staircase they were running down. Each step was narrow and Jounouchi had a hard time keeping his balance at first and only just regained it when they were at the bottom and confined in a tight hallway. This was starting to seem a little creepy.

"Hey, what the heck is this place Moki? Does your brother have a dungeon or something?" he mumbled which just got Mokuba to grin and chuckle.

"Nah, this was here before we were brought here. Seto just decided to use the space down here for something constructive so one of the rooms was turned into his gym."

"One?"

"Well, yea. But I'm not allowed to tell you what the other rooms are!" Mokuba stuck his tongue out at Jounouchi as he glanced over his shoulder. The blonde stuck his own tongue back at him but continued to follow the kid. A few moments later they came to a stop in front of a large metal door, which Mokuba struggled with until Jounouchi helped him open. When the door did open the two boys were blinded by the bright lights igniting the dark hall and it took them some time to adjust. Once they did the two stepped inside. Mokuba ran over to the center of the room while looking at the packet from Dr. Mori so he could see what machines he could let Jounouchi on. The blonde, however, just stared.

The room didn't fit the idea of a dungeon basement at all. The walls were a white, where they could be seen because on one side it seemed like there were only mirrors. Blue mats covered the cold ground wherever there was free space away from the countless machines that littered the large area. Every corner had some sort of boxing or fighting area for training and there were machines and items in there that Jounouchi had never seen before. It looked like enough space for everyone in the house to be working out at once without bumping into each other but, knowing that Kaiba probably always came in here alone, it seemed lonely due to the size.

"Jounouchi come over here! I'll show you some of Seto's stuff. You shouldn't do any machines you don't know, since I don't know them either, so just stick with normal people stuff!" Jounouchi's cheeks puffed, as if he didn't like the idea of only knowing 'normal people stuff' but he wasn't going to argue. He'd probably break something, or himself, if he messed with too much.

At that same moment, over at KaibaCorp in downtown Domino City, Seto Kaiba was sitting at his desk with his long fingers ghosting over one of the three keyboards in front of him. The middle screen in front of him was his main focus and the other two were simply there so he could keep an eye on things. The left showed the scientists and betas in KaibaCorp to ensure that everything was running smoothly and no one was taking anything or changing any of the programming without Kaiba's knowledge. He had already caught a few people trying to do so and had them dealt with. The right screen showed the mansion and had every security camera moderating at all times. He wasn't dealing with Mokuba getting kidnapped again.

He wasn't paying any attention to either screen until the right one flashed with red text along the bottom, which had his fingers stopping abruptly. The red simply alerted him to movement in a room that otherwise should have been empty. Since he wanted to be sure there were no intruders, he pushed the middle keyboard away and pulled out the third, which connected to the right screen. A few seconds later he had the camera focused on the gym up and saw Mokuba and Jounouchi wandering around inside. Kaiba's eyes narrowed as he watched the two going up to different machines and it seemed like Mokuba was explaining a few things to him. The fact that the two were invading one of his rooms nearly had him activating the speaker system so he could tell them to get out but his screen went blue first. His eyes widened for a moment, surprised that his own security system could have blanked on him but when he saw a black line go across the center of the screen he glared again and leaned back in his chair as he waited.

A few moments later the screen opened up to show Dr. Mori with a headset on. She wasn't wearing her lab coat anymore and she didn't seem to be in her clinic, though if she was it was part of the clinic no one else seemed to be in for it was far darker than the main area. Her arms were also crossed and it almost seemed like the two were mimicking each other. Neither said a thing until Kaiba pulled open a drawer and took out a headset of his own, which he slipped on quickly, all the while keeping the glare. He obviously wasn't going to talk so Dr. Mori started.

"I knew you'd be logged in. Don't scare the two of them just yet, kid."

"Why are they in there?" It may have been a question but it certainly didn't sound like one.

"I was going to talk to you about it tonight when you got back, but Mokuba got overly excited and dragged Blondie downstairs as soon as the idea was tossed in the air. Princess has too much pent up energy for someone who can't do anything-"

"He's like a collared dog barking at anything that passes, what do you expect?" Dr. Mori rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses back up before crossing her arms again.

"Yes, well, he needs some way to get rid of that energy and since his stitches won't let him run around quite yet this was the next best thing. Besides, he's an active bodied person. If he sits too long without doing anything his body isn't going to react well. So I was going to ask you if he could use the gym. Mokuba wanted to mention it tonight, after letting Blondie in but he doesn't know about your cameras like I do."

"Why are you on?" Kaiba questioned, his mood unreadable. This whole situation reminded him dully of when he had to hack into Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom computer system to help Yuugi when Mokuba was first kidnapped. Back then Dr. Mori didn't have her web cam up but she was the one behind the computer's voice, helping him hack from a different server inside the mansion as opposed to the secret room he had set up. She dealt with all of his moods, from when he was happy to pissed and even on the rare occasion when he was sad. Their relationship was simple to define; they each knew too much to let the other walk away still breathing. Thus, the two were stuck with each other.

"I didn't want you scaring them. Blondie's been jumpy lately and if you give him a heart attack I'm the one that has to clean it up. And I don't feel like filing false reports on death if you scared him into the grave." Dr. Mori kept her face straight but she could see something tugging at Seto's lips, as if he wanted to smirk or grin. Part of her wondered if he wouldn't have found Jounouchi dying because he scared the poor boy entertaining. She dismissed that quickly. Whether it was true or not, she didn't want to deal with it. "So, can he use your stuff or not?"

"If he breaks anything-"

"Beat him with it, I know."

"Fine." Dr. Mori let a smile escape her poker face before she leaned forward and prepared to log off.

"You're really nice to this kid. From all the stories I heard I'm surprised you two aren't at each other's throats. I guess it's because you're avoiding him though," she added in her normal, passive tone. Seto's eyes narrowed, as if he wanted to ignore her but he wasn't going to let the connotation behind her words linger in the air.

"What are you talking about?" His voice was just cold but at least he didn't seem to be in as bad a mood as he had been that morning when Dr. Mori tried to bring up a similar conversation.

"Well, you brought him here. I would have thought you'd care a bit more about his condition but you barely seem to be paying attention to your own, let alone his." She knew she was treading on thin ice. In order to get him to keep calm she let her own mask fall away and suddenly the worry in her eyes was quite visible. Seto looked away for a moment, glancing at the other screen to see if anyone was around his office, before looking back at her. She was frowning. "I'm just worried about you, kid. You've been acting kind of strange and I don't know what's going on. You usually keep me in the loop better than this."

Seto stared at the screen for a few moments and yet he didn't look at Dr. Mori. He focused on what was beyond the screen, or the boarder of the screen itself. Eventually he sighed and tilt his head down, his eyes closing. Dr. Mori frowned from her side of the screen and waited without a sound. If he was going to tell her anything she had to make sure there were no interruptions of his thoughts. He always shut down when something happened and she didn't think he'd let her get this close to the truth again anytime soon. The two were there in silence for a while before Seto shook his head and loosened his arms. The pain in his side was too much for him to keep the pose he was so use to, and he didn't feel like keeping the wall up between them.

"I don't know what's going on," he admitted which had Dr. Mori's brow raising.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly, choosing her words very carefully.

"I can't explain it," he said under his breath but the mic was close enough to his lips that she caught it. His head shook again, as if he were trying to clear his thoughts but it was just failing. For whatever reason, Kaiba just couldn't figure out his own motives. It had been bothering him since he stopped the car and helped Jounouchi in that alleyway. He could have brought him to a hospital or dumped him on one of his friends. He could have kept driving in the first place. No, even if Kaiba was an ass all the time, he wouldn't have just let Jounouchi get killed and that's what it looked like was about to happen. He would have done something but why did he do what he did? If he couldn't understand himself or his motives then, how could he understand anything he was doing now?

"Kid? Hello, earth to kid?" Dr. Mori noticed he was deep in his thoughts but he had been quiet for a while and she couldn't help but want to pick his brain. "Kaiba!" she eventually called, which got his attention at last. He looked up at the screen and saw her leaning forward, looking more closely at him. Once she noticed he wasn't lost in his own mind anymore she leaned back again. "Good, you aren't a sitting vegetable. Back to the topic then," she started and he just shook his head. She frowned, knowing her chance was lost.

"I don't have time for this right now," he stated as he leaned forward and began typing on the keyboard, which shrunk Dr. Mori's screen. She watched his hands, noticing how he was barely moving his injured hand or the fingers on said hand. That, at least, made her happy. He wasn't being a complete idiot, at least not in front of her.

"Fine. I've got paperwork and phone calls to make anyway. Just…remember what I said this morning before you left. I still don't want you to lose out on a good thing. It's about time you had a break." She gave him a ginger wave goodbye before cutting off her video feed before he could say anything in return. For a few moments he sat there, thinking about what had happened that morning, but before he could come to any conclusion his eyes caught the screen to his right yet again. Now that Dr. Mori was gone he had full access to his security cameras in the mansion and the one for the gym was still up on full screen. Mokuba wasn't in the room any more but he could clearly see Jounouchi in one of the corners. His back was to the camera and his shirt was discarded somewhere else as he practiced different types of punches on a large black punching bag dangling from the ceiling with large metal chains. With his headphones still on his ears he could hear the sound from the room and with each punch it was clear that Jounouchi was either in pain, or out of breath. And it was no wonder since Seto could see his technique was crude at best.

It was this critique on his actions that alerted Seto to the fact he was staring at Jounouchi far more intensely than he should have. He quickly minimized the camera, taking off the headset as he did, and started searching through the rest of the camera's quickly to see if Dr. Mori was still at her station by the computer. He knew she could have seen he was still watching the room and didn't want to deal with her questions later. To his relief she was walking out of the kitchen at the time and there was no way she could have been by the computer. He was about to return to his work when his eyes caught something else strange. In the dining room he could see Mokuba sitting with Jounouchi's friends paying attention to something he was saying. His eyes narrowed once more as he watched.

"Mokuba, what are you up to…," Kaiba whispered to himself before minimizing the screen like the others and going back to his work on the middle display.

At this point, however, Mokuba was up to something that he probably shouldn't have bothered with. In the dining room, with all the doors closed and no maids or butlers inside, it almost seemed as if the boy was holding a meeting with the rest of Jounouchi's friends. Yuugi was sitting to his right, with Anzu besides him, and Honda was on his left. No one was making jokes at this point, but then again they had barely started talking other than Mokuba bringing them in here under the guise of something important. If it had to do with Jounouchi then the gang was more than willing to listen.

"So, what's this about?" Honda leaned forward on the table and stared at Mokuba, which threw the kid off. He expected, out of everyone, for Honda to be laughing and making his weird faces even from the beginning, but here he seemed so serious. It was odd.

"Nothing bad," Mokuba quickly stated to see if it would make the intensity he felt off the other male but nothing changed. Yuugi, seeing how surprised, and apparently confused, Mokuba was quickly jumped in.

"Don't mind him, Mokuba! He might like to push Jounouchi's buttons, but really he does care. So what is it that you needed to talk to us about?" Mokuba smiled and nodded as he looked from Yuugi to Honda, both of which returned the smile.

"Alright well…uh…so this is kind of awkward…. You guys have to promise you won't tell anyone," he turned to Honda at this and pointed an accusing finger. "And that means anyone, ever! Okay?" Honda's hands went up in defense.

"I promise! Man, the last time I didn't technically tell much, Yuugi guessed it anyway. But I won't say a word even if someone guesses whatever this is!" The other two just nodded in agreement and Mokuba took their words and actions for it.

"Alright…um…don't laugh at anything either okay? I think this is really important for both of them!"

"We won't laugh, Mokuba. Who is this about?" Yuugi already had an idea but he wasn't going to bring it up. Mokuba had called them in here and even made sure Jounouchi was preoccupied, which they all knew about, so obviously it was something important to him.

"U-uh Jounouchi, obviously, and…Seto." Anzu leaned forward slightly so she could watch Mokuba, whose nerve seemed to have snapped. He wasn't as sure about doing this as he had been before. Anzu, on the other hand, was beginning to believe what everyone was saying. She might have been a bit slow to the party, but at least now everyone was silently on the same page.

"Alright, we're listening kid," Honda explained with a grin. He was a troll, sure, but it was usually in Jounouchi's best interest. If the blond boy wasn't going to push himself then someone else had to!

"I promised I couldn't tell you guys some stuff…but everything else is okay! So I've been scheming a few things the past few weeks to try and get…those two," Mokuba mumbled. He felt as if he were going to explode from embarrassment. At this point he wasn't sure he made the right choice but as the other three looked on him with kind, yet expecting, gazes he knew he had to continue. "To be around each other more and, uh…."

"You want them to like each other?" Anzu piped up, since it was clear Mokuba wasn't sure how to word this. He smiled and nodded.

"Yep!" Everyone glanced at each other with different expressions. Honda was grinning like a fiend while Anzu looked slightly confused. She may have admitted that Jounouchi was gay, sure, but she still didn't see Kaiba liking him. Yuugi just looked deep in thought for a moment before he asked the golden question.

"Is Kaiba gay?" Everyone quickly looked at Mokuba, who blushed for his brother's sake. Part of him didn't feel right about talking about Seto like this, but it was a good question.

"I don't…think so. I asked him about it and he kind of avoided the question but I don't think he's gay."

"Then how could he ever like Jounouchi in that way," Anzu asked. She thought this just proved her thoughts.

"Well, he just doesn't care. I've seen Seto go out with girls and guys," he added, trying to explain something he himself didn't have a title for. The other three exchanged glances. They honestly couldn't think of Kaiba being with anyone, ever, though it was logical if he was. After all, he was wealthy and smart so they could all see why people would want to try and be with him.

"Kaiba's had dates?!" Honda asked before shaking his head. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Anyway, does that mean he's bi?" Honda piped up, trying to figure this out. Yuugi shook his head this time.

"I don't think so. From the way Mokuba worded it I'd peg him as pansexual."

"Pan..sexu-watzit? What's that?" Honda asked as he looked over at Yuugi. Mokuba and Anzu did the same, though the ladder of the two did so simply to question why he knew about different sexualities.

"I read about it once online where this guy described it as liking a person regardless of their gender or sex. So basically, I think it means that someone who's pansexual just doesn't care about genders and are more interested in …something else. I don't fully understand it myself to be honest."

"How's that different than bisexual?" Honda asked, still confused.

"Bisexual people like two genders, male and female. Pansexuals like all genders, even those that aren't defined as male or female."

"What?! What other genders are there?!" Honda asked as he held his head between his hands and dramatically looked over at Yuugi, who gulped. This wasn't what he meant to happen when he added his idea.

"Well… yea I guess. People look at themselves in different ways and some don't like the gender they were born in so they try to change it."

"Oh, I get it," Anzu said as she placed her fist in her awaiting hand. "It's like those people we saw in that one movie right? The ones that were dressed as women, and looked like them, but were actually men. Right?" Yuugi nodded.

"Yep! That's one type I guess." Anzu nodded before turning to Yuugi and tilting her head slightly in confusion.

"Um, Yuugi, why do you know so much about this stuff?" Yuugi's face lit up within seconds and he could hear a chuckle ringing through his ears that he knew no one else could hear. Waving his hands around defensively he tried to think of an answer.

"I-uh ran across some stuff when I was on youtube one day so I looked it up, that's all!"

"_You shouldn't lie, Aibou_" a dark voice whispered in Yuugi's head, which just made his blush deepen though he ignored him. If Yami was going to mess with him, now of all times, he had to keep his control and stay quiet or else everyone was going to find out his secret too!

"Yea, there's some crazy stuff on youtube," Honda replied with a nod of his head. "But, why would Kaiba be pansexual instead of bisexual?"

"Well, think about how he acts?" Yuugi answered with a relieved sigh. The chuckle in his head started to fade away. "We've known him long enough to see that he doesn't seem to pay any attention to the differences between a male or a female. And he doesn't treat either gender differently. So why would he treat any gender differently in that sense? Or in any sense. It just seems to fit."

"I see what you're saying now. It's like when he made that game and the princess looked like Mokuba right? But she was a girl."

"Can we not talk about that," Mokuba injected with a sour look that made everyone chuckle under their breaths.

"Sorry Mokuba, but he has a point. It would make sense if he did that because he just doesn't pay attention to genders anyway. I don't know, like I said I don't know much about pansexuality."

"Well," Anzu piped up before Honda could ask another question. "If he is pansexual, or bisexual even since we can't know unless he told one of us, does that mean there's a chance he could like Jounouchi? I just can't see the two of them being anything more than enemies."

"That's true, they are always at each other's throats but I don't know…Kaiba always had a thing for annoying Jounouchi over the rest of us. Remember the first time they dueled? I'll be honest, I kind of felt uncomfortable with half of the things the two of them said to each other." Yuugi nodded, thoroughly agreeing with Honda about that. Mokuba just looked confused since he had been in Pegasus' dungeon at the time.

"What happened?" Honda quickly shook his head and reached over to ruffle Mokuba's hair.

"You're too young," he said automatically, which made the situation all the worse in Mokuba's mind. Pushing Honda's arm away, the young raven haired boy stood up to put the conversation back on the track he wanted. They didn't have much time left before Jounouchi got tired of working out or Seto came home from work.

"Fine, don't tell me! But either way, I wanted to talk to you guys because I don't know what else to do! The two of them are too stubborn to move from where they are." Mokuba may not have broken his promise about keeping the fact Jounouchi actually did like Kaiba a secret but everyone else already knew it, for the most part. The group looked at each other, silently thinking about how they could help without ruining any chances they could have at succeeding.

"Are you sure they aren't moving forward? I mean…isn't this a big step just being in the mansion together without killing each other? And not only that, Kaiba also saved Jounouchi twice now. It seems like they've already kind of stepped past the whole enemy thing if you think of it that way," Anzu mentioned. She knew she was contradicting her earlier statement but, if this was all happening then there was some hints toward it. "Besides, Kaiba looked really worried when Jounouchi was in pain yesterday."

"He did?"

"I didn't even notice." Honda and Yuugi looked at her, surprised. She just nodded.

"Yea, I saw him look like he wanted to go over and check on Jounouchi but he stopped. I figured it was just a tick, like he's use to Mokuba getting hurt or something so it was a reflex, but when he looked at the room and stopped moving it kind of clicked that he was holding himself back because we were in the room." Yuugi and Honda exchanged glances before Honda jumped up too, making Mokuba jump to the side as if he were afraid the larger boy was going to go all spastic and accidently hit him. He saw it happen before.

"Well then, that settles it! The two of them are acting too weird for it not to be true! I might not like Kaiba that much, but Jono's my best friend so if this is what he wants I'm going to help out! Tell me what to do Mokuba, and I'll help you scheme until we get our results!" He made a triumphant pose with his fist in the air and a serious look on his face that got Mokuba grinning.

"Alright!"

"I'm in too!" Yuugi said as he stood up as well. Anzu chuckled and stood a moment later, her normal smile on her lips.

"If you all think this is a good idea then I'm in. We've got to stick together right? And I think it's about time someone made something easier on Jounouchi! So let's do it!"

"Yea!" The four put their hands together in the middle as a sign of their deal and broke off after a moment like a team getting ready for a sports game would in the locker room. Instead of sitting down after their silly moment, Honda pushed his chair in and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, so I don't know what we're going to do, but we should just give you our numbers, Mokuba. That way if something comes up we can all keep in contact!" Yuugi chuckled but nodded.

"You make this sound like it's some sort of important mission, Honda!"

"It is! This is Jono we're talking about. He's too much of a blockhead to do anything on his own so we'll have to make sure it happens! So give me your phone and I'll add in my number." Honda held his hand out and Mokuba, after fishing through his pocket for his phone, offered it up. The phone went around to Anzu and Yuugi next and soon everyone had everyone else's numbers.

"There we go! Now we can all keep in touch!" Anzu said with a grin as she put her phone back in her bag.

"Yea, and if anything else goes down make sure you message us. We don't want you getting kidnapped again or Jounouchi getting his butt kicked like usual!" Honda gave him a grin and a thumb up before he looked around once again. Now that their little club meeting was over, and they were all on the same page about helping Jounouchi and Kaiba figure things out – or force them into it – the doors were open and the group only had one thing left to do. "So where's the big lug anyway? We should say hi before we leave. Not to mention I have more homework for him!"

Mokuba led the group to Jounouchi's room, where he left them for a few minutes before he ran downstairs and into the basement to get the demanded blond. After helping Jounouchi clean up the room the two returned to the group and exchanged their normal few hours of conversation but everyone could clearly see Jounouchi was on the verge of falling asleep. He had spent too many hours working too hard on his body to not be tired. The longer he sat down the more he felt like he was going to pass out at any moment and his friends eventually opted to leave so he could get some rest. Of course this was when Jounouchi mentioned all the homework he had done, which surprised Honda and Anzu to no end. Yuugi already knew about it from the text messages the night before. Even beyond their surprise the group left, Honda taking the homework with him to hand in and leaving any of the new stuff that he collected from their classes earlier that same day.

Mokuba walked them up and left Jounouchi to rest for a while until Seto came home. The brunette wasn't in a particular mood of any sort when he returned from KaibaCorp just a few moments after Yuugi and the others left the mansion. Mokuba ran up to him as soon as he was back, of course, and the two spent some time together in Seto's room as Mokuba tried to explain to him why Jounouchi should be allowed to use his gym. Of course Dr. Mori had already spoken with him about this but he let Mokuba try anyway and, when the younger boy was done, Seto agreed to let him use the gym. It wasn't like it was being used at the moment anyway so he didn't care so long as nothing was misplaced or damaged. This eventually led to the end of their conversation. While Mokuba was preparing to leave, Kaiba told him to relay the message that Jounouchi could come back up to finish what they had started yesterday. Guessing that he was talking about homework – though not completely sure after the odd conversations with the group earlier that day – he agreed and quickly left.

Downstairs Jounouchi was lying on his bed with his eyes closed. His arms were sprawled out to either side of him and he could have just slept for the rest of the day if not for a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He was sure there was something he was missing or something he was supposed to do but he just couldn't figure out what it was. Right when he was able to get rid of the feeling and was on the verge of falling asleep at last he heard an annoying pounding at his door. Groaning, he just opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "What do yah want!" he yelled at whoever was on the other side of the door, which seemed to give Mokuba enough permission to open it with a chuckle.

"Just me!"

"Oh. What's up Moki?" He slowly turned his head toward the boy but refused to move any other bit of his body at the moment. All of his muscles were burning at this point.

"Nothing much, I'm just supposed to tell you that Seto is upstairs and said you can go finish whatever you started yesterday now." While Mokuba was sure it was just homework, because he had peeked in on the two at one point since the door was open, Jounouchi's initial reaction had him wondering. The blond had quickly scrambled from the bed as soon as Mokuba finished speaking and ignored all the pain in his sore and swollen muscles. He was about to get up when his foot caught on a sheet he had pushed off the bed earlier, which caused him to trip and fall face first onto the floor. By the time he started pushing himself up it was Mokuba's turn to be on the floor because he was laughing so hard he couldn't stay standing.

"Shut it Mokuba!" he grumbled as he finally pushed himself up and went to his bag in the corner with his clean clothes. He searched for one of his shirts that he could pull over the tank top he had put on after his shower earlier. When he got out of the gym he was dying so as soon as he possibly could he jumped in the shower to try and relax. It didn't help much, obviously, but it was enough that he could at least move now.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mokuba mumbled between fits of laughter. Mumbling something sour under his breath, Jounouchi finally pulled on a shirt and left the room without another word. Unfortunately his dramatic exit was thwarted since, as soon as the door closed behind him, he remembered the other homework Honda gave him earlier and had to turn around to retrieve it. As soon as he walked in, stomped over to the bed and grabbed the bag, only to turn around and try to stomp out of the room just as dramatically, Mokuba was on the floor laughing again. He couldn't help it, even if he felt kind of bad for the action. He planned on apologizing later but for the time being he wanted leave him and Seto to their business. Whatever that may be.

Upstairs, Seto was back in the same position he had been the night before only this time he had paperwork in his hands rather than a book. It was all slipped into his briefcase as soon as he heard someone knocking at his door. Before allowing them to enter he quickly slid the briefcase against the side of the couch so it wouldn't be in the way and seemed to pay close attention to hiding the blood that was splattered over one of the corners. Once that was done he leaned back against the couch, his legs crossed as usual, and his body leaning to the opposite side of his wound with one elbow propped on the arm of the couch. "Enter," he finally called.

"You'd think you could be more friendly like," Jounouchi said as he pushed open the door and walked in. He didn't look all that presentable today since he had sweatpants on and a dinghy old t-shirt covering his tank top but he didn't care. Kaiba's the one that called him, so he'd have to deal with it. Besides, he was too tired to change his clothes anyway. Seto didn't seem to pay it any attention as he just gave him a cold glare, as usual. "Tough crowd," he mumbled as he walked over and sat in the chair he had started in the day before.

And, as with the day before, their little homework session began rather slowly. Seto didn't talk much and Jounouchi was too afraid to ask too many questions. But he was also rather tired and couldn't wrap his mind around as much as he had the day before, which was easily noticed by Kaiba who was on the verge of telling him to go back to his room when a phone rang. He slipped his hand into his pocket but, when he glanced at the screen, he saw it wasn't his phone that was being contacted. Jounouchi hadn't even realized he had his phone until Kaiba put his phone back and the phone rang again. The blond, who had already relocated to his position on the floor by Seto's feet as he had done the day before, reached into his pockets and searched for the dinosaur of a phone. He caught it on the last ring and answered it automatically without even checking who it was. Kaiba just watched him, though he had grimaced when he first saw that old piece of junk that Jounouchi seemed to call a phone.

"Uh, hello?" The blond waited a moment before his face paled.

"_Jounouchi? So you are alive my boy! Good, good. We've been worried about you._"

"O-oh, sorry about that…I only just got my phone back and I haven't had time to call in. I'm really sorry." He leaned forward, placing his forehead on the table in front of him as he tried to think of some excuse that could explain everything to the man on the other side of the phone without getting him in trouble.

"_It's alright, but where have you been?_"

"I got in an accident and…I was in the hospital for a while. I'm still under observation." For once he was glad he visited his sister in the hospital so much before her surgery. At least it let him remember a few key phrases to make it sound like he really was at a hospital or something.

"_That's too bad. I hope you get better soon kid and come visit us here when you do._" Jounouchi's face paled again and he shook his head.

"V-visit? Does that mean I'm…"

"_Yes son, I'm sorry but we just can't keep waiting for you to come back. You're fired._"

"No! You can't do that! I need that money or else I can't…I just…please, I'll come in tomorrow if I have to! Please don't fire me! Give me one more chance!" Kaiba watched him without emotion on his face though he clearly could see Jounouchi's body shaking as if he were on the verge of screaming or crying.

"_I'm sorry. You're probably in no condition to come running in here tomorrow anyway and I'm not having you getting hurt on the job. You come visit when you're better and we'll see what we can do. The shops closing up now, Jounouchi, so I've got to go. Heal up soon kid._" With that the line went dead and Jounouchi let his phone fall down into his lap as he closed his eyes and pressed his head into the corner of the table. The sting from doing so at least made him feel like he had a reason to be shaking as he tried, and failed, to keep himself composed. Kaiba didn't say or do a thing as he waited for the emotions to be too much for the blond. He may not have heard the man on the other side of the phone but it didn't take much to figure out what had been said.

"How…am I going to…," Jounouchi whispered more to himself than Kaiba, but the words tickled at the taller male's ears.

"What was that?" he asked in a low tone as he withheld himself from adding any dog inspired titles to his words.

"I…I can't pay for anything now…not for my apartment…or any utilities…and…how am I going to be able to pay you back…?" He continued to shake and Kaiba was almost positive the male was crying and hid his face for the sheer purpose of keeping the tears a secret. Without a word, Kaiba stood up and started walking toward the door. Jounouchi rose his head just enough to glance at Kaiba as he stopped at the door but didn't turn around.

"Keep working, I'll be right back."

"What…b-but-"

"For once just listen to me you idiot," he scolded before leaving the room and turning toward the stairs. At first Jounouchi just stared after him, confused and upset all at the same time, but eventually he pulled one of the books over to him and started reading. It didn't take long for him to move onto the couch and lay there, waiting for Kaiba to come back, while he tried to read the words on the pages and failed, his tears getting in the way as he reread the same paragraph over and over again.

In the meantime, Seto had walked down to the second floor and was standing in front of Dr. Mori's clinic for a moment before he knocked. There was a shuffling sound inside the room before the door opened and Dr. Mori stood there. She looked tired and it was clear she hadn't exactly been in a position to be on call since her lab coat was discarded and her long hair was out of its bun. The red locks fell in a waved pattern down to her shoulder blades and framed her face rather nicely but it also gave her a very tired look as if she had been sleeping moments before. Seto didn't pay it any attention as she sighed and took a step to the side, letting him walk in. Once the door was closed, after she followed him in, she walked back to her desk and picked up a few bobby pins up so she could quickly put the bun back in her hair. Kaiba gave her the time to do so, since he was also letting Jounouchi have a moment alone to collect himself. Once she was done, however, and the messy bun was stuck to the back of her head, he proceeded to explain his visit without her questioning.

"I have a new job for you."

"Who am I hacking this time?" she mumbled with a yawn. She obviously had been taking a nap but now she was quickly waking up and seemed prepared for whatever job he was about to give her.

"Not this time. I need you to go to Domino and check on someone on the next day you don't have anything scheduled." She gave him an odd look before turning to her desk and flipping through her planner.

"That'll be tomorrow so long as you and Blondie don't get into any trouble. If this is going to take more than a day, however, you'll have to wait. I'm taking his stitches off the next day."

"One day is fine."

"Who am I checking on? Another secret friend?" she teased with a yawn. He ignored her comment, for now.

"His father."

"Father? Whose father? Blondies?" Kaiba just nodded and she crossed her arms as she leaned against her desk. "Why? Did you crack his skull with that briefcase or something? Because, let me tell you, if you did that then he's probably dead by now."

"No, he's a drunkard and an idiot who gets in worse situations than his son."

"So why do you care?" He paused for a moment before glancing at the planner besides her to avoid her gaze indistinctly. He didn't even notice he was doing it at first.

"I gave my word I'd have him checked on."

"Your word, huh? That was a few days ago so why the sudden interest?" She shrugged directly after speaking though, and let him hide his motives from her. "Not that I care. Either way I'll go check on him tomorrow. Just give me the address and we'll be good to go."

"Hayate will pick you up in the morning. He's already there."

"Oh, fun. Alright, that makes it easier. I was wondering where my favorite lug went anyway," she joked with another shrug as she pushed herself up onto her desk and sat there, her legs crossed and her arms crossed. "One more question," she added as he turned to leave. He stopped and looked back at her and, when he noticed her serious look, he turned to face her. "How bad is this guy?"

"What do you mean?"

"Some of those old wounds on Jounouchi's body are too thick to be from blade fights. If he really is a drunkard…well, I just want to know if I have to kick this guy's ass for hurting Princess." She smirked, prepared for Kaiba to just shrug it off as if it meant nothing but the smirk faded when she saw that same glare from earlier that morning on his face. She leaned back, as if she could feel herself being crushed and this time he wasn't even looking straight at her. Instead he was glaring at her planner as if he were trying to set it on fire with his eyes. It was just like the first time she ever had that look cast her way and the first time she ever saw the wounds he hid under that body suit of black. "Uh…I'm probably wrong though." He glanced at her, the glare not as intense but still enough to make her doubt herself for a moment. The kid's temper always flared when it really meant something to him, like when it had to do with Mokuba, but this was a temper she didn't fully understand the meaning of.

"Do whatever you want," he stated coldly before turning and walking toward the door. "Just keep him alive." She couldn't help but smirk at that.

"How alive do you want him?"

"I don't care." He left the clinic to the, now very awake, Dr. Mori and returned to his own room. He stopped walking, however, when he came to the doorway for his room and saw Jounouchi lying on the couch with a book over his face and an arm dangling off the black fabric. For a moment he just stared before he quietly walked over and pulled the book from the blonde's face, only to show a sleeping Jounouchi with a trail of tears slipping down his face. Seto put the book back on the table before shrugging off his coat and draping it across the back of one of the nearby chairs. He reached down, as he looked over Jounouchi once more, and dried the tears with the side of his fingers in a surprisingly ginger manner. When the male didn't stir Seto stood up and looked around.

Seto couldn't pick Jounouchi up in his current condition. Hell, he probably couldn't even pull him up if it came to using his injured hand, so he gave up on that idea. For whatever reason, he decided not to call on Shun or any of the other guards or staff to move Jounouchi either. Instead he reached over to grab his coat from the chair he had just placed it on. Unfolding the material, he quietly laid it out over Jounouchi's curled up form as if it were a blanket. Since this didn't wake the male up either Seto stood and quietly grabbed his briefcase before shutting off the lights in the room. He closed the door over until it was open only a crack and then walked toward his bed. He pulled a keycard from his pocket and used it to open a secure door to the right of his bed, which revealed another office for him to work in. This room was one of many similar rooms that each held super computers that he, and at times Dr. Mori, used during important projects. With Jounouchi in his room, he didn't exactly trust the mutt to wake up and simply leave without wandering around and snooping through anything, so he decided to stay where he could watch him while also finishing a few projects of his own design.

* * *

**What do you guys think? Hope you liked it!**

**Next chapter should be up at some point this weekend since I have a bit of extra time on my hands!**

**Also, I was asked to do a parallel puzzleshipping fanfiction. Anyone else interested in reading one if I write it?**

**See you all next time!**


	13. Check In and Rehab Part I

**Hello everyone! Cy here with Dr. Mori who decided she wants to comment on the chapters from now on hehe**

**Dr. Mori: Hello everyone!**

**So there's chapter 13 and boy is there some interesting things happening here...**

**Dr. Mori: I was going to be nice in this...but I just can't stand idiots!**

**Hehe so here you guys go! Enjoy it and I hope you guys are on the edge of your seats waiting for the next chapter!**

**All credit for canon characters go to Yu-Gi-Oh and its creator. All the kick ass characters (Such as Dr. Mori) belong to mwah!**

***koishii means beloved or dear**

****The chapter's been updated as of 5/2/13**

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With grey clouds masking the once brilliant blue of the sky beyond, morning came to the Kaiba property in a slow and seldom manor. While some of the inhabitance were just then going off to bed, their shifts having ended for the night, and others just beginning to wake up and start their daily duties, some members of the household never went to sleep in the first place. One particular member was Seto, but he wasn't the only one. Another party had stayed up the entire night wondering over different scenarios in her head, trying to figure out just what was going on in the Kaiba mansion. For once she felt out of the loop. Before this she was part of everything and had information from, and on, everyone. There was no stone that she did not know the surface of perfectly on this property. No blade of grass that moved without her knowledge or a flower that grew without her opinion on its petals. There weren't even heated meetings or affairs within the mansion's walls that she didn't somehow know about. Now, ever since Jounouchi came into the house, she wasn't as well informed, and it wasn't just her. No one could figure the newcomer out. There were too many variables, too many things that _could_ happen and fewer things that she, or anyone, knew _would_ happen. Such things plagued her mine from the night before, when she was requested to leave the mansion and travel to Domino City on a checkup, right up to the present moment. These thoughts would continue until a crude chime echoed through the otherwise empty room. She reached for the phone without looking for it since her eyes were closed at the moment, and brought it to her ear.

"Yes?"

"_I'm outside whenever you're ready, Amaya._" A smirk crossed the doctor's lips.

"Using my first name, hmm Hayate? You must be alone. I'll be out in a moment." She hung up on the bodyguard and stood as she brushed off her pants. Since she wasn't sure just how badly she was going to want, or have, to teach this man a thing or two, Dr. Mori had decided to wear pants so her normal skirts wouldn't get in the way. Besides, one could never be too careful around drunken strangers. She was quite sure she would be safe with Hayate there, however, so she wasn't worried in the slightest. Besides, she dealt with enough people in physical altercations over her life time that she was also quite sure she wouldn't need Hayate anyway.

Before leaving her quiet clinic she wrote down a quick note for Yoko, explaining where she had gone and that the maid-turned-nurse was in charge of anything minor that happened and for changing Jounouchi's bandages later that day. She left it on her desk before grabbing her bag full of supplies and pulling the strap over her head so it followed the line of her lab coat's collar. Once at the door she turned around to check that everything was perfectly in place before closing and locking the door behind her. No one seemed to be roaming around besides a few maids and a guard here and there who were checking something or simply switching posts. Most waved at her, or avoided her gaze depending on if they caused her trouble or not, but no one said a word. It was too early for conversation anyway. She would respond with a nod or a wave to anyone who acknowledged her but otherwise she left the mansion as quickly as possible. The brisk air outside had her clenching her lab coat over her green shirt as she walked down the stone path to where she could see Hayate waiting for her with the door open to the car.

It was clear he planned on her sitting in the back, like most of his passengers did, but she walked past him with her head raised and her eyes averted until she was at the door to the front passengers seat. Opening it herself, she slid in and closed the door while she waited for him to scramble to close the back door and run around the car to get in. She smirked when he gave her a frown before starting the car and driving away from the mansion. The two sat in silence for a few minutes until Hayate finally spoke.

"Why didn't you sit in the back?"

"Why should I have? I don't like sitting back there anyway. It's boring. Now, enough of your embarrassment, Koishii. Tell me about this man I'm going to deal with today." The bodyguard nodded as he kept his eyes on the road from behind his dark sunglasses.

"He's a handful. Every now and then he'll rant and rave about his son or his ex-wife. I heard him mention a daughter once but he might have made it up. Whenever he runs out of a drink he'll start throwing things around and if anyone is in his view he aims for them. He has pretty good aim for a drunkard. He doesn't like the fact that anyone's in the apartment and is probably going to try throwing something at you when you walk in." He grimaced, not looking forward to dealing with that. Mori just chuckled. If he was going to be hostel from the beginning then she would be too.

"Is that so? Well then, I'll have to show him how strong my back hand is. Tell me; is there any sign of the home being an abusive location?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are there signs that he could have been abusing his son there?" Hayate paused for a moment to think it over while keeping his eyes on the long stretch of road between the mansion and the highway that would lead to Domino City. He already expected to have this conversation for whole hour ride.

"I didn't see anything myself, but I wouldn't doubt it. With the way he treats anyone who he gets a glance at without hesitation it just seems like he's use to doing that with anyone. Probably his son too. I don't walk around the place much. The one time I was in that blond kid's room it looked like he barely lived there."

"What do you mean?" She turned in her seat slightly so she could look at Hayate directly. He kept his eyes on the road as far as she could tell. Those sunglasses always did bother her. Not only were they overly clichéd for a bodyguard, they also made it harder for her to gauge his reactions.

"There just wasn't much in there."

"Well, what was in there?"

"Just a cot, some duel monsters cards, clothes and a lot of photos and magazine clippings. It's just kind of empty." Dr. Mori nodded as her body eased back into the padded seat and a frown finally crossed her lips. Her head tilted away from Hayate so she could look out the window and watch as trees and grass blurred away into a mixture of green and brown with the grey sky ever clear behind it all. She couldn't help but find herself deep in thought as they finally reached the outskirts of Domino City. It didn't take long from there to get into the city and eventually to the apartment complex where the Jounouchi family lived. Or half of the family at least.

The two quickly left the car without a word and took the walk up to the fourth floor where the apartment awaited them. Dr. Mori took in the surroundings and frowned from one floor to the next. While everything looked rather well cared for outside and on the first floor, things got progressively worst toward the fourth floor. When they were down the hall from the apartment Dr. Mori didn't need Hayate to lead the way. A yelling slur and a few crashing and cracking sounds sent her in the correct direction and, without letting Hayate be her cover, she quickly opened the door just as a beer bottle crashed into the wall a few centimeters away. A drop or two of alcohol fell onto her coat and her eyes narrowed as she searched the inside of the apartment for the source.

"Get outta 'ere!" a slurred voice said from the close living room, which helped Dr. Mori's eyes narrow in on her target. Seeing the pudgy man sitting back in a broken old recliner with bottles of booze surrounding him on the table and the floor had her grimacing. She could already smell the stench of the alcohol from here and she wasn't looking forward to getting any closer. Now she understood what Kaiba meant by fumes when he returned to the mansion ill. The sickly sweet smell was making even her head spin, and she was no stranger to alcohol. She usually could handle the stench but this was far worse. This was a rotten and infested smell that pushed her toward turning around for some fresh air. She pushed forward, however.

"Mr. Jounouchi?" she asked as she walked into the living room only to see a young maid in the corner trying to clean up a rather large stain of alcohol and glass. She was almost positive that beer bottle had been aimed at the girl and only missed because it was aimed too high. She was already starting to hate this man more than she had before meeting him, and he barely slurred a word in her direction.

"Who the fuck are you?" he hiccupped when his hazy eyes fell on her. A crude smirk crossed his lips as he took in her appearance, however. "B-bout time s-some fun showed uh-up." She gagged but restrained herself from smacking him for the words. Not yet at least. Instead she pushed her sweetest, most professional smile on her lips. It may have twitched at the edges, a warning that she was not at all in the mood to play this game, but she doubted the man would notice.

"I am Dr. Amaya Mori, but you _will_ address me as Dr. Mori. Your son sent me to check up on you." She lied, of course, since it had been Seto that sent her but this man probably had no idea who Seto even was. Besides, Kaiba only sent her because he gave his word to Jounouchi, so the little lie led to the truth.

"T-that little faggot needs to le-leave me alone. N-nothing but trouble!" he splurged as he waved another bottle around. Some of the beer spilled out and onto the floor but the man didn't notice. The young maid, having finally finished cleaning the carpet where she was when Dr. Mori entered, now crawled over to quickly work on lifting this stain as well. As she worked her small fingers also collected all the empty bottles and put them into a bag she had tied at her waist. Dr. Mori gave the girl respect for dealing with this stench and this man in general.

"You shouldn't speak about your son that way," the redhead stated in a cold tone, her fake smile fading as soon as those crude words left his lips. She took to looking around after that, as if her eyes were searching for something more. The man mumbled something but she ignored him as she left the room for a moment only to return with another butler and maid a few minutes later. "I want all of these beer bottles picked up and thrown out. Same with the ones that still have alcohol in them. Clear this house of all this trash and ensure that no more comes into this apartment and anywhere near _him_. Perhaps our friend, Mr. Jounouchi, will be a bit more hospitable _sober_."

"You can't do that!" the foul man gurgled as he pushed himself up, out of his chair, and wobbled toward her. His fat fingers were out, his hands bare, and his arms stretched as if he planned on grabbing her around the neck and pushing the air out of her. The maids both stared in horror while the butler began toward the door to get Hayate. Without missing a hitch, however, Dr. Mori turned with her leg raised, only to kick him harshly in the stomach. He stumbled back until he hit the nearby wall and fell down with a thud. His face was contorted in a disgusting twist for a moment before he lurched forward and vomited across the already stained and grimy blue carpeting. Dr. Mori's nose curled at the foul sight and stench.

"You listen to me, you disgusting excuse for a man; you are not at a hospital where the doctor is afraid their license is going to be revoked for dealing with you the way you deserve. I am not afraid of losing my title and I have no problem showing you the same curtsy you show your son. Do not tempt me." The maid who had been cleaning the floor quickly got up and left so she could get the supplies for cleaning the vomit. It actually made Dr. Mori feel bad, but she had to do what she had to do. The other maid went back to collecting the bottles, as did the butler who never went to get Hayate. Hayate stood at the door, his normal post, and smirked as he watched Dr. Mori handle the large man. He had, of course, been watching the scene as well as he could and never once worried about the man grabbing Dr. Mori. He knew she was quickly than any fat drunk. Once the man composed himself again he reached out and suddenly grabbed her ankle but she didn't let him hang onto it long since she stomped her other foot down on his back, sending him face first in to the pile of his own stomach bile. After a moment she kicked his side in order to roll him over onto his back and look down at him with dark eyes.

"Y-you b-b-bitch," he splurged yet again. She rolled her eyes and put a foot on his chest, holding him down.

"Are you done squirming like an insect so I can ensure you are as healthy as a parasite can be, or do I have to continue teaching you who exactly is in charge here?" The man said nothing but closed his eyes and groaned. After a few more moments, where she allowed her weight to push down on him a bit more than necessary, she took her foot away and called for one of the maids to come over. "Get me a wash bin and a few washcloths." The maid nodded and ran out of the room only to return in a few minutes with the needed material. By this time the man had his eyes closed and seemed to be breathing rather shallowly. He knew enough to not to fight any more, or he had blacked out from the beating and the alcohol. Either way, Dr. Mori didn't care. He didn't deserve anything else if what she suspected were true and she was too protective over the three boys in the mansion to care. Even if Jounouchi was new too the Kaiba household, even if he was just a visitor, he took enough of her time that she cared about his wounds and that meant she wasn't letting some bastard abuse him. She made the mistake once of not standing up for someone, she wouldn't do it again. Her heart couldn't handle it, so perhaps this whole beating was selfish. Perhaps it wasn't even for him but for the real man she wished she attacked a long time ago. Or maybe it was for both of them.

"Here, Dr. Mori," the young woman said quietly as she placed the bin down with two washcloths dangling from the side. Dr. Mori nodded but didn't say anything to her as she left. Instead she took one of the washcloths and soaked it in the warm water before cleaning the man's face of his own vomit. It was disgusting but if she had to check his breathing and his dilation she wasn't dealing with that bile everywhere. She threw the washcloth across the room once she was done and then quickly pulled different items out of her supply bag. The warm water had woken up Mr. Jounouchi, however, and he was now grumbling to himself. She ignored him, for the most part, until he started swinging at her when she went to check his heartbeat. Her eyes narrowed as she grabbed his arms with her hands and knelt on one knee, the other ramming into his side.

"You aren't going to land a hit while you're drunk and you wouldn't if you were sober, so give up before I get angrier," she growled as she turned her leg around so she was stepping on his chest again. He tried to push her away but his strength was weakened by the countless bottles of beer that disoriented him. And she was in control and would have been whether he was at his peak or not. Very few people could stop Dr. Mori when she was in such a sour mood. Once he stopped squirming she took one of his arms and started to examine it since she could have sworn she saw something red trailing on the inside of the limb. A few moments later she checked his other arm and realized that both limbs had, what appeared to be self-inflicted, wounds. "Where did these come from?" she asked harshly as she shook his arms in front of his face. He turned his head away and she grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at her. "I said, where did these come from?"

"I-I don't know!" he grumbled. Her fingers tightened around his chin in a vice grip that was more likely than not going to leave some very obvious bruises along his jaw. He mumbled, as well as he could since her grip made it difficult for his mouth to move, and quickly gave a different answer. "I did et!" Her grim loosened considerably.

"Why?" He shrugged and she went right back to her vice grip.

"I don't know!" he yelped. She rolled her eyes and let his head drop from her fingers as she took the second washcloth and dabbed it along the wounds on his arms. If nothing else she saw them as a sign of his guilt for what he was doing with his life, but he could have just been an idiot. Either way, as a medical professional, it was her duty to put him on suicide watch since the wounds could have been detrimental. And if she forced him to be sober it was likely to get worse.

She spent two hours after that giving him a physical and wrote down anything that seemed like a piece of vital information, and even some things that she just wanted a record of. This way, if she ever had to check on him again, she could see if he improved or got worse, and it came in handy if she had to send his records to another doctor. When she was done she left him back in his worthless chair and began inspecting the apartment with a critical eye. She checked in every cabinet, on every shelf, and in every nook and cranny that she thought alcohol could be hidden. If she did run into any bottles she had one of the butlers take them away to be disposed of before moving on. She did this in each room until she found herself with only one location left to inspect, and she couldn't help but guess that this was Jounouchi's room.

The thin door opened to reveal the exact scene Hayate had described to her earlier. The grey floor was covered in stains and a white cot lay on its side, covered in a few pieces of clothing that seemed to have been just tossed around. The floor had a few things here and there scattered under other articles of clothing, including duel monsters cards and photographs. There didn't seem to be any other pieces of furniture besides the cot and one small table against the wall, which she could see a few picture frames with faces glared out from the light in the hall. Otherwise the room was bare and sad accept the two walls to either side, which were covered in photos of Jounouchi and his friends or magazine articles with images of faraway places and different ads about big cities and adventures. It was rather sad and lonely and Dr. Mori wanted nothing to do with it.

She turned around and walked back into the living room, where she saw Mr. Jounouchi passed out on his chair. With a roll of her eyes, Dr. Mori went over to the young maid who had been cleaning the living room and was now as done with her duty as she could be. "You, go into that room on the left down the hall and clean up everything as quickly as you can. Leave any clean clothes on the cot and organize the photos and cards on the floor. Any dirty clothes should be cleaned and later added to the pile. Also, avoid the table on the wall." She nodded and rushed off into Jounouchi's room to do just as demanded. Dr. Mori hoped Jounouchi would be able to return to his normal life soon enough and at least that was one thing he wouldn't have to worry about. While the maid went about doing her newest duty, Dr. Mori walked over to Hayate by the front door of the apartment to talk for a moment. "Is he always like this?"

"Like what?"

"A disgusting dimwit that throws things and yells at the only people who are trying to help him."

"Oh, yeah. He was worse when we first showed up but he seems to have calmed down. So long as he was kept with liquid in his hand he usually just shut up."

"Well I'm ruining that for you. No more alcohol for this guy, and if you catch him with it get it out of his hands. Hopefully he won't be here much longer anyway."

"What do you mean?" Hayate looked down at the woman who was now glancing into the living room to make sure the male wasn't moving or causing any issues. He seemed to still be asleep.

"I'm recommending he be put in rehab as soon as possible. If we can get him relocated then all of you can return to the mansion and Blondie won't have as many issues between worrying about this idiot and paying for this crappy apartment." Hayate's brows pushed together as his brain tried to make sense of her statement.

"He'll have to come back here won't he? Or is he going to be getting another apartment if he doesn't have to pay for two bedrooms?" She frowned, realizing that he didn't know what was going on in the mansion and wondering if he would look down on anyone if he did. She choose to keep it to herself and come up with some white lie. Besides, she wasn't sure how long the boy would stay in the Kaiba mansion anyway so it wasn't her place to mention anything regarding it.

"He'll probably be moving into some new location soon depending on the events that happen the rest of this week." Hayate didn't fully understand but he nodded and kept his questions to himself. As much as he would like to know he had a feeling it was best he left himself out of the equation.

"Ma'am, I finished," the young maid said as she walked up to the two. Dr. Mori nodded and walked away from them both without a word. She went into the room and saw everything was a bit more organized. On the cot sat two piles of clothes, with small stacks of duel monster cards and photographs to either side. The table in the back was left alone as she had demanded. For now she decided to leave the cards and clothes alone since she knew Jounouchi had enough clothes on him already. Besides, if he did come back here instead of moving out or staying at the mansion for a long amount of time, then it would just be simpler for him to have the majority of his few items waiting and ready for him here. For now at least.

Now she walked over to the table and finally saw the multiple photographs of a young woman with different people around her ranging from members of Jounouchi's group of friends and those, whom Dr. Mori could only guess, were their parents. She picked up a piece of paper and saw that it was a letter to Jounouchi from someone named Shizuka. Dr. Mori didn't take the time to read it all but noticed the word 'brother' from time to time and realized the young woman must have been his sister. She didn't want to disturb the display any more than she already had but couldn't help but pick up a picture that seemed to be Shizuka and Jounouchi as children on the beach. It seemed like an important picture to Jounouchi, since she could see stains on the glass from tears shed over the picture, so she decided to take it. She slipped it into her supply bag and left to meet with Hayate at the door.

"Are you ready?" She nodded but when he moved to open the door she held him back by the arm.

"You'll have to stay here. If he wakes up and there isn't any alcohol he'll probably be upset and could attack one of the maids or butlers. Besides, I'm putting him on suicide watch so you need to make sure everyone keeps a close eye on him. If there are any sharp objects that he could be alone with they need to be confiscated and don't let him get ahold of anything else that he could use. Make sure not to beat him too much and keep the phone away from him in case he tries to cause some issues." He nodded, but frowned. Before he could question her she stood on the tips of her toes and kissed his cheek. "I hope you come back to the mansion soon. Bye Koishii."

"How are you getting back?" he questioned as she walked past him and opened the door. She smiled and winked.

"Don't worry; I'm sure Shun will come pick me up." Hayate's face paled but he just sighed, knowing she was teasing him. He held the door open and leaned outside so the maids and butlers couldn't see them.

"Alright. Get back safe." He leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on her lips before letting her walk away with her phone to her ear and a glint in her eyes. When the door shut and locked behind her, she began walking down the hall as the phone rang to hear ear. A few moments later she finally got an answer from Shun, who agreed to run from KaibaCorp to pick her up and bring her back to the mansion. After hanging up she checked the time on her phone and whined softly.

"I've been in this dingy place all day! I just hope things go smoothly tonight…." She sighed and walked downstairs to wait outside for Shun.

* * *

Not long after Dr. Mori left the mansion to check on Mr. Jounouchi, Katsuya Jounouchi slowly woke up. He was expecting to see a few sharp rays of sunshine hitting his eyes and blinding him from the sea foam shade the room was painted, as always. Instead his honey eyes fluttered open to a room cast in shadows, all the blinds closed and curtains drawn, and a chill in the air. At first he thought he was asleep and having another of those weird dreams he'd been having recently but when he tried to roll over to go back to sleep and end the dream, he nearly fell off the black couch he was situated on. Scrambling to keep himself from falling, he quickly turned back onto his side and stared at the room in front of him. Now he was sure he was awake because the fear of falling shook all sleep from his mind.

"What the…?" he whispered to himself as he saw the other black chairs and couches in front of him as well as the table that held all his homework and books, and his phone. He reached out for it, wondering if he had just snoozed for a few seconds, only to feel his whole body tense and crack from the strain of his workout the day before. He groaned for a second but pushed forward to grab the old phone and check the time. Not only was it around six in the morning, his phone was almost dead. "…This doesn't make any sense…," he murmured as he shifted himself so he could sit up. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened the night before beyond getting fired. After that it was all just a blank. He must have fallen asleep not long afterwards. He sat up and leaned forward, ready to ease his body into relaxing from the uncomfortable sleep, when his gaze finally fell on the fabric that he had originally thought was a blanket. That was the last straw. This obviously had to be a dream if he was covered in Kaiba's signature coat, which didn't look all that anti-gravitational any more, and was in his room!

Right then he heard a sound coming from the other side of the room and saw Kaiba walking out of what must have been his walk-in closet dressed in his normal black attire, except now he had a purple coat on that had long sleeves as compared to the white one and no belts to be seen other than the KaibaCorp one around his waist. Jounouchi stared at him for a second before suddenly realizing where he was again and blushing as he looked around franticly for a place to hide. He felt as if Seto hadn't noticed him or didn't know he was there, even if that made no sense. Hell, Jounouchi could have been sleepwalking or something, he didn't remember!

"Calm down you nimrod," Seto said in a bored tone as he walked over to Jounouchi and stood behind the black chair to his left. Jounouchi instantly stopped and just stared at the brunette, his eyes scanning from his face to his chest to notice the locket he usually wore that had Mokuba's picture in it was wrapped around his neck twice to shorten the chain. He stared at that just so he didn't freak out or blush but Kaiba noticed and just chuckled under his breath which caused the back of Jounouchi's neck to prickle.

"What's going on here, Kaiba!" the blond asked as he pointed an accusing finger toward Seto. The brunette just turned and walked toward the connecting office where he had spent his night. Jounouchi was prepared to run after him for being ignored, but Seto did answer him.

"You're the one who fell asleep, idiot." Jounouchi, now blushing slightly since it seemed like he really had just fallen sleep in Seto's room, kept pointing at him in an attempt to make up some argument.

"Y-yea well," he tried to think of something to say before switching to his knees on the couch so he could lean over the arm as he watched Seto walk into the office. "Why am I still here then? Huh, huh?" While he was grateful that he got to sleep, and didn't exactly mind the fact that he got to stay in Kaiba's room, he was slightly freaked out. Seto was an ass, even Jounouchi would admit to that at any given moment, so for him to let Jounouchi sleep on his couch, with his coat as a blanket, just seemed odd. He would have expected to wake up in the hallway or back in his room, or to have been kicked awake or something. Not this.

"Because you're pitiful brain won't make you get up and leave?" he questioned his bored tone still ever present, as he walked out of the office with his briefcase and closed the door.

"Don't be smart with me, rich boy!" he had a whole argument set up but, of course, Seto cut him off.

"I don't think I could bring myself down to your level of intelligence if I had to." That deflated any argument Jounouchi had and made him just sit back with a grimace. He crossed his arms and looked away as he mocked Seto under his breath.

"Well don't you think your just all that and a bag of chips," he grumbled before turning back to Kaiba only to see the other male was standing over him. He gulped.

"I don't think, I know." Seto leaned forward, making Jounouchi's tired heart skip a beat, but avoided the blond completely as his long arm slithered around to pick up his other coat. When he pulled away Jounouchi quickly looked in the other direction to hide his face. Seto didn't seem to notice as he walked away and left his coat lying on his bed for the maids to find and wash later. "Now get out, I have work to do."

"Eh? Ah! Crap," Jounouchi grumbled as he scrambled to get up. He forgot where he was and it was obvious that Seto was on the verge of going to work. Part of him wondered if the brunette would have left him to sleep there if he hadn't of woken up before he left for work. The thought was nullified as he grabbed his phone and stared at the undone homework.

"If you fall asleep tonight I'm not helping you anymore," Seto mentioned as he stood on the other side of the table, making Jounouchi jump back slightly. He hadn't been expecting Seto to be standing there, or at least he hadn't been paying attention to where Seto was.

"Huh? You mean, you'll still help?" He didn't expect Seto to help him every night but he wasn't going to complain so, before Seto could even comment back, he grinned and nodded. "Alright, I promise!" He quickly ran around the brunette and out the door without another word, leaving Seto there shaking his head.

"That idiot," he murmured to himself as he closed one of the books on the table before leaving the room himself. He watched Jounouchi for a moment as the blond ran down the stairs at the far end of the hall, near Mokuba's room. With a roll of his eyes, he went down the other staircase and continued into his downstairs office. While he was planning on returning to KaibaCorp later that day he had some business to take care of at home first.

Seto spent two hours locked away in his office with his computer and paperwork distracting him from everything going on outside. Jounouchi, who had gone back to sleep once he calmed down in his room, was up and wandering around in the gym downstairs, ignoring the pain in his muscles from the day before. He demanded too much of himself and he knew that, but he wasn't going to just let himself lose all his muscle. Who knew when he'd need it again to help someone or himself? Since Seto never mentioned anything about it, as far as he could remember, he figured it would be alright for him to be in there. Or he'd get his head chewed off if it wasn't. Mokuba, on the other hand, was already in his lessons and he wasn't getting out early today. Now that they knew he could handle it again, the tutors were prepared to keep him preoccupied.

Everyone was busy with their own business until Jounouchi ruined it. He went right back to working with the punching bags but his muscles were still swollen from the day before and after a few minutes he could have sworn he tore something. The pain was mild but it was enough to snap him out of his crude routine. Since he didn't want Dr. Mori kicking his butt later for ignoring it, he quickly cleaned up and walked back up to the clinic where he expected to find Dr. Mori. Instead, after he knocked on the door, the aquamarine haired maid opened the door with big eyes wide at the sight of him.

"S-sir what can I h-help you with?" she murmured, reminding Jounouchi of the maid that had knocked on his door that first day when he woke up in the Kaiba mansion.

"Uh, yea. Do you know where the doc is? I think I might have pulled at one of the stitches and I don't want my ass handed to me, yah know?" The young woman giggled nervously but shook her head.

"D-Dr. Mori is away from the mansion for the day. I'm supposed to handle anything that comes up…a-and y-your bandages need to be c-changed anyway so I can do that too, i-if that's okay with you?" Her stuttering made Jounouchi chuckle. He gave her a grin, which caused her to blush, and nodded.

"So the way- uh…what's your name again?"

"Y-Yoko. I'm Dr. Mori's assistant nurse," she said with a bow before leaving the door so he could walk in. Without direction, Jounouchi hopped up on one of the cots and leaned back, since this cot was able to have the top adjusted upwards and set up like a reclining chair. Yoko turned to him, after putting on a mask and gloves, as well as grabbing fresh bandages, and took a deep breath. "W-what hurts?"

"Just my side up here by my arm. I think I swung too hard but, better safe than sorry with someone like Dr. Mori around right?" He sat up slowly and pulled his shirt off, figuring he'd have to anyway to get his bandages switched. Yoko's face lit up bright red and she had to quickly look away in fear that she would look unprofessional and get in trouble. Unfortunately for her, Jounouchi noticed the reaction. "Hey, you okay over there?" He leaned forward, which just made her blush worse while she tried to look away. "Your face's all red. Maybe you're the one who should see the Doc."

"I-I'm p-perfectly f-fine!" she mumbled as she quickly looked down and avoided his gaze. Jounouchi shook his head.

"No way! Nothing can be hidden from the great Jounouchi, Godfaddah of games! Spill it." He smiled as he sat there, leaning forward slightly to look at her. She had to be around the same age as Jounouchi's sister, and if she wasn't then she certain looked young for her age, so he couldn't help treating her the same way he would have treated his sister if she did that.

"I-I'm fine! It's unprofessional!" she muttered as she tried to preoccupy herself by looking at his chart. His brow perked and he grinned, a joke popping up in his head.

"Oooh I get it, you've got a thing for me! I don't blame you; I'm one hot piece of man." He stated as he nodded, his arms crossed and a triumphant look clear on his face. He felt a dull pull in his muscles from the movement but his smug behavior let him ignore it for the moment. It just so happened that the door to the clinic was still open and this entire conversation was clearly heard in the hallway, which reached a certain Seto Kaiba's ears. He had been on the way to his room to pick up something he forgot earlier before going to KaibaCorp but this conversation had him stopping and listening in. Jounouchi, who didn't pay attention to how red Yoko's face became after his little joke, now realized she had turned away from him and was curled over the clipboard. "Oy, are you okay?"

"H-How did you know?"

"Know? Know wha-wait you really do have a thing for me?!" He started looking around, as if this was some joke and he was on a hidden camera show because it wasn't usually cute nurses that had a thing for him. Usually it was some creepy guy or some old woman who were in their sexual prime but beyond the prime of their beauty.

"I-I…." She just nodded, which had Jounouchi's face lighting up as well.

"Whoa…well, wow. Okay. Why the hell do you have a thing for me?" He was confused. As far as he remembered he barely spoke to this girl before today and yet here he was, guessing about her feelings for him. It was awkward and would have been worse if he knew Seto was standing outside with his eyes narrowed and arms crossed.

"I…I thought you were really handsome when you came here…and y-you're really g-g-good looking and I h-heard stories about you from M-Master Mokuba a-and I just wanted to g-get to know you b-better b-but I'm s-so shy and…and…." Jounouchi, who now looked quite smug again, reached over and pat her head gently, which got her attention enough that he could wink at her.

"Well, didn't I tell yah I'm a hot piece of man? Hehe, but if you wanted to get to know me all you had to do was ask," he teased, his voice getting lower. Yoko began to blush even more, taking his teasing too literally, but she wasn't the only one jumping to conclusions. Outside Seto looked like he could have glared his way through the door and set it on fire. Instead of admitting to himself what he was really mad about he left the hall and went to his room to gather the materials he left earlier. As soon as he could he then left the mansion all together and went to KaibaCorp, which meant he missed the rest of the conversation.

"I-I…" She looked as if she were going to swoon at any minute which made Jounouchi grab her shoulders to keep her from falling.

"Hey, earth to Yoko. I'm just teasing you, don't pass out or something!" he grumbled as he shook her slightly. She eventually looked up at him again, her blush lighting up against her now disheveled aqua hair. "I'd like to get to know you better too, yah know, but I think there's something I should tell you before you…uh…get too wrapped up with this crush thing."

"W-what?" she asked, looking down and preparing to be turned down. She was, after all, really just a maid that was taught a few extra skills. Jounouchi took a moment to wonder about what he was about to say. He could just be blunt or he could try to let her down easier but that made him feel worse. At least if he was honest she would know it wasn't because of her that he was rejecting her feelings. Hell, if they had met before the whole blowout with Mai that led him to realizing his real feelings he probably would have jumped at a chance to date a cute girl like her.

"I…erm how do I put this…well, I'm, uh, gay so I can't like you back…sorry?" He blushed brightly, afraid of how she would react. She was, after all, really just a stranger that happened to like him but she also was a stranger that could make his stay here worse if she blabbed. He just hoped she was the right kind of person. A few moments later his fears were cleared when a bright smile crossed the girl's lips as she looked up at him again, even if her lips were hidden behind the mask she wore.

"Really? Oh wow…I-I never would have guessed! I'm so sorry, this must be awkward…." Jounouchi shook his head and grinned again as he gave her a thumb up.

"No problem! I feel really bad haha. I've never had to say something like that before…but hey, this doesn't mean we can be friends right? It'd be nice to have someone else to talk to in here that isn't an ass, besides Moki that is." Yoko giggled and nodded. While she was still blushing she seemed a lot calmer now that she knew what was going on.

"S-sounds good to me! So…I guess I should check your bandages now. R-ready?" He nodded and lifted his arms enough that she could cut the bandages away and took them off his stomach. She checked the side he had mentioned was aching earlier but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. She did notice, much to her blushing surprise, that his muscles were straining at the semi-healed wounds and she concluded that this was likely the issue. "What were you just doing?"

"I was in the gym when it started hurting," he mentioned nonchalantly. She nodded and went over to the clipboard to mark it down.

"I t-think you need to r-rest today instead of going to the g-gym…or just do a treadmill or something," she mumbled as she walked back over to him. "Your m-muscles are p-pulling at the stitches a little bit but since most of them are c-coming out tomorrow, if you just wait until then y-you should be fine." She couldn't help but continue to stutter due to embarrassment. Even if she accepted that there was no chance for him to ever like her back since he was gay, she couldn't help but think he was handsome anyway and that didn't help anything.

"Eh, I guess I can wait a day…Dr. Mori isn't going to kick my ass for this is she?" He grinned when that made Yoko giggle and was relieved when she shook her head.

"N-no, Dr. Mori doesn't need to know if you don't make it worse," she whispered with a wink that got Jounouchi grinning.

"You are my new favorite, Yoko!" he called as he leaned forward to hug her only to pull at his side, which made him lean backwards quickly. "D-dammit. Okay I'm definitely going to sleep when I get these bandages back on." He laughed and she giggled as she picked up the bandages.

"Are you still itchy? I-I can make more of that o-ointment." He shook her head and she nodded before reapplying the padding to his worst wounds and then wrapped the bandages around his stomach. Any other stitches he had on his arms or chest seemed fine and were likely going to be the easiest to take out when the time came for it. "There you go! Good as new."

"Thanks!"

"No problem. Y-you should go rest! Tomorrow's g-going to be hard on you." Jounouchi nodded and hopped off the cot.

"You're probably right. Thanks, Yoko. Tell the Doc I said hi when she gets in, will yah?" He waved her off and left the room not long after that to go into the room he was staying in. He laid down on the bed and tried to force himself into a nap so he didn't have to worry about falling asleep again tonight and pissing off Kaiba.

* * *

Dr. Mori, who was standing outside of the apartment complex when Shun drove up, was rather surprised to see who was sitting in the backseat already. She slid in next to him and closed the door without Shun ever bothering to get out of the car. With the divider up and privacy evident for the two in the back, Dr. Mori wasn't sure how to go about talking to the brunette next to her about this. She had an idea that could help Jounouchi out but it was going to take some cooperation from a certain Kaiba. And for once it wasn't Mokuba Kaiba.

"What are you doing, leaving work early?" she finally asked as she shifted in her seat to face Seto a bit better. Sure, it was around four in the afternoon but that was at least five hours early for Seto, since he usually stayed at KaibaCorp late into the night. The brunette glanced in her direction but then looked back over a few papers he had in his hands.

"I wanted your report."

"Ah, should have guessed it wasn't just to see my pretty face." She smirked, prepared for a response from Kaiba but he didn't seem to be in a good mood and his mouth stayed shut for once. Shrugging it off, she continued. "That man's a disgusting excuse for a human. I've taken all of his alcohol from him but I think he needs to be relocated to a rehabilitation center for alcoholics. Otherwise he'll never be able to live on his own." Seto nodded and continued looking through his papers.

"Alright."

"Alright? That's it?"

"Do you have anything else to tell me about the situation?" he asked as he finally put the papers down and looked at her. She just looked back and kept her arms crossed.

"Not really, no."

"Then that's all."

"Well who's going to tell Jounouchi? He'll have to figure out how to pay for it."

"It's being taken care of." Her eyes narrowed on him and she slowly moved closer to look at him better. He ignored her movement, though he didn't revert back to his paperwork which surprised her. "And we have an issue with your nurse."

"Being taken care of by whom? Did you already tell Jounouchi? And what about Yoko?"

"No, I'll have him sent off tomorrow." Seto kept his bored gaze on her but she had a feeling she wasn't being looked at, at all. At least not after she mentioned Yoko. "She's a maid, not a certified nurse. From this point on she can't see patients without you."

"You?! Okay, that's it; I can only take so much of this! What's going on between you and Blondie? And don't you give me that look again, kid! I swear, I can deal with being out of the loop for so long!" Seto stared at her, his bored look ever present, and she just growled in the back of her throat. While she wasn't exactly ecstatic with his comment on Yoko, that wasn't as important to her right now as getting through that thick skull of his. She'd question him later on it, but she could see where he was coming from logically. There wasn't really a need for an argument. "What reason for helping him with this do you have? It's not like you actually care about the guy, right?"

"No, he just owes me," Seto said after finally deciding on a plausible answer.

"Owes…you…?" She settled down as confusion washed over her and Kaiba nodded.

"He is indebted to me. Dealing with this just adds more to the debt that I can collect on later." The fact that he said it with a straight face didn't surprise Dr. Mori nearly as much as believing him did. She leaned back in the seat, her arms uncrossing and her head shaking, as she gave up her feisty attitude.

"You…," she started in a low murmur as she turned to glance at him. "Here I am, finally thinking you've got a heart!" she suddenly said as she shifted until she was barely sitting on the seat and started yelling at him. "And all you're really doing is scamming the poor guy?! For what? What the hell do you want from him?! You're messed up kid, you know that? This is low, even for you! No wonder no one wants to get close to you if this is what happens! Ugh, and I thought you were finally starting to figure out something important but _no_, instead you just plot to use him and then what? Are you going to just kick him out on his ass one day?"

"Will you shut up," Seto eventually said when he got a moment to cut off Dr. Mori's rant. She glared at him but could see her words reached him somewhere inside because his eyes weren't as cold as she expected them to be. She frowned but kept her position otherwise and didn't falter when he tried to look away.

"How long is he staying in the mansion?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know much when it comes to this kid, do you? Well start figuring it out because he's not going to be able to afford rehab and that apartment. From the looks of it I'm surprised he was doing as well as he was, and that's saying something."

"I already told you-"

"You'll take care of it, sure, but you won't do that forever. Eventually you'll get your _payment_ from Princess and send him packing. I get that you want something from him, which I couldn't guess what because compared to you he's lucky to have a shadow let alone air to breath, but could you think about someone else's feelings for once? I don't know how he survived this long but if you just take what little he has left and throw him to the curb it's going to destroy him." Seto sat there in silence as they drove toward the mansion. He wouldn't look at her though he wasn't avoiding her gaze. Instead he was just thinking about what she said. Usually it wouldn't have bothered him as much, since he heard speeches like that every day from people his company stepped over or from those he fired, and this wasn't the first time Dr. Mori ragged on him either. For some reason, however, it bothered him more now than ever before. "What do you want from him?"

"I haven't decided yet," he admitted absentmindedly. She looked at him and sighed, her head hanging.

"Sometimes I wonder if you push yourself away as much as you push away everyone else." He glanced at her, visibly confused.

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Neither do you right now, so it should make perfect sense. Look, kid, I get that you have this big thing about how everyone is alone and you can't trust anyone and all that crap but you have to get over that. Someday you'll realize just how lonely you are but until then I think you're trying to avoid that and any other feeling you could possibly have attack you so you just push yourself away from your own heart. It's like you've got some box around it, in a cage, with swords sticking through it all wrapped in barbed wire. You think that'll protect you but it won't. Someone's going to get past all of that because they have the patience and the pain tolerance to do it and what are you going to do then?" She stared at him, her violet eyes alive with a fire that he couldn't stand to look at.

"You're wrong," he stated coldly but that didn't stop her. She leaned forward, her finger pressing to his chest right where his heart was beating, and stared straight at him from behind her sharp glasses. He wasn't getting away from her this time, not even as they pulled up to the mansion. This time he was going to listen to her whether he liked it or not.

"No, you're afraid."


End file.
